Tag Archives: Sales Figures

Make Sure To Compare Apples to Apples When Discussing Sales

Sales figures always appear to be written in black and white, either sales are good or bad. But when it comes to comparing two completely different markets, and trying to find a correlation between both sales figures, that’s where they become very misleading. Whether it’s in the business world or the journalists who report it, sales figures must be reviewed carefully, or the one who comes up with inaccurate findings looks like a fool. It’s important to take into consideration the markets in which your company or the company you’re writing about or reviewing, is in line with other companies or your business report will be flawed.

In the auto industry, journalists like to stir the pot a bit by posting misleading headlines that turn heads, but with further review, make the writer behind them look silly. This past February the Mitsubishi Mirage outsold the Volkswagen GTI. It seems to be a surprise considering the popularity of the GTI’s within the car enthusiast community, but base price for both cars proves to be the reason for the Mirage’s ‘improbable’ outselling of the popular hatchback.

The Mitsubishi Mirage starts at $13,000, while the Volkswagen GTI starts at $25,000. The $12,000 difference is one reason for more sales for Mitsubishi, but both these cars aren’t even in the same class. Also by doing some research of my own, the Mirage didn’t run away with overall sales as the GTI was only 84 cars behind. In one article, the writer posted a graph of which vehicles the little economical car outsold, but every other car on the list was either $12,000 – $40,000 more than the Mirage, making the sales figures not that outstanding. If a Lexus GS, with a starting price of $48,000, almost outsold a $13,000 car, that’s not good news for Mitsubishi.

Sales figures can be misleading if there isn’t further research. Also when it comes to business, you can’t compare apples to oranges, and that’s what a Mirage is to a GTI, they’re not the same or even in the same market. Because Volkswagen considered the GTI to be a different model than the Golf, sales figures are somewhat distorted since as the Golf, which is closer in price to the Mirage, sold 2,000 more cars than the Mirage.

Always do research and make sure both businesses and products are in the same market. What appeared to be a disappointing month for the GTI, was in fact on par with the previous 6 months of sales.

It May Be A Great Product, But What Do The Sales Figures Say?

Walkman
muadib.ar / Foter / CC BY-SA

Whether you’re selling candy, clothes, automobiles, tech gadgets, or any other products you can think of, everything you do behind the scenes and in your marketing strategy mean nothing unless the sales figures reflect the day-to-day operations and processes. The product may be great, it may look cool, and you may think it sells, but if there are no buyers and sales figures are down, changes have to be made to create a desire and want for the product you’re trying to sell. When it comes to products, there is so much to selling and marketing than what you, or your friends think, and what may seem popular in one clique, could be completely irrelevant to a broader customer base and bigger target markets.

At the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Sony unveiled their new Walkman (I know, we’ve suddenly taken a trip to the past). It will be on sale for a mere $1200 this Spring. While Generation X can have their flashbacks down memory lane, the issue comes down to what we should expect in terms of sales figures. Taking on Apple where they’ve dominated since the beginning of the millennium is a very bold strategy. Most MP3 players have failed against the iPod, why should the Walkman expect to steal market share away from Apple?

At $1200, are consumers really going to buy that over the traditional iPod? As a consumer and student of business, these questions have to be raised. We’ll find out soon enough, but let’s move our attention to automobiles that are selling, and in particular Cadillac.

Over the past 6 months all you’ve heard from Cadillac is how they’re going to take on BMW, Audi, and Mercedes Benz. ‘The reign of the German Big Three is coming to a close because they’re not making cars like Cadillac’, is essentially what the leaders of the American luxury brand has bragged. Well, the annual sales figures have been released, and it’s time to see who has ended up with egg on their face.

According to goodcarbadcar.net here are the statistics.

Audi: Sales up 15.2% in 2014 from the previous year.
BMW: Sales up 9.8% in 2014 from the previous year.
Mercedes Benz: Sales up 6.5% in 2014 from the previous year

And then there’s Cadillac.

Sales figures down 6.5% in 2015 from the previous year.

Cadillac is improving from what they’ve produced over the past few years, the problem however is the very strong perception that Cadillacs are still owned by older folks, and even worse they’re still a branch of GM. Once again, the product can look great and may be a better option, but the sales figures don’t show that.

Another example is coming from a different side of the business spectrum, the branding, marketing, and advertising branch of business. Entrepreneur Magazine shared an article discussing 10 of the worst new logos for big companies in 2014. While a few are clearly bad, others were an improvement and further developed the brand and direction the company is moving in. Whether these logos were bad or not, what do the sales figures have to say?

Personal opinion is what blinds us all from seeing the truth, and in this instance I’m talking about business, and this can be from the owner or the consumer. Sales figures show no bias, they have no favorites, they reflect the changes that really matter, positive or negative. Sony’s Walkman could be a huge bust or a success, but at $1200 let’s see how long that price lasts when consumers can buy an iPod for much less. Cadillac is being aggressive, attacking the German auto brands and trying to compete against the most popular car companies in the world. In 2014 they failed to live up to the hype. Lastly, personal opinion that fails to see what the sales figures really say, loses all credibility.

In business there are two things you must be aware of, listen to, and learn from. Sales figures and the consumer. These two aspects tell the truth. The customer is always right, and sales figures are never wrong.