Analyzing competition is one of the key aspects of running a business. In this article, learn how to use Excel’s scatter plots to understand competition.
Recently, Kaiser at Junk Charts pointed to a very effective business chart that shows the dynamics of competitive land scape with ease.
The chart shown aside originally appeared in Asymco, shows how mobile handset market has changed between 2007 & 2010.
What is so special about this chart?
I like this type of chart because it clearly tells the story of what happened in mobile handset market between 2007 and 2010. It shows how then leader, Nokia, kept loosing profit share despite a tiny loss in market share. It shows how new entrants like Apple have eroded the profit share for others. [related: good charts tell stories]
The chart instantly lets me ask important questions like, “So what did Nokia do wrong?”, “How come RIM is also in the same league as Apple (ie both market share and profit share went up) ?” etc. and explore for answers.
And that is what a chart should do. It should present a story and poke our curiosity to ask questions (or address problems).
How to construct similar chart in Excel?
Here is how you can construct similar business chart in excel.
Step 1: Get your data
In case of analytical charts like this, getting correct data is all important. For the sake of example, we will use the same variables – Market Share & Profit Share for 4 fictitious products – A,B,C & D. The data is shown below:
Step 2: Re-arrange the data, so we get first and last values
This is very simple. Use cell references to extract the data for just first and last periods. Now make starting values as zero and calculate ending values. Something like this:
Step 3: Make a scatter plot
Select the data and make a scatter plot. When you are done, it should look something like this:
Step 4: Format the chart
Do the following to format the chart:
- Add lines to scatter plot so that starting and end point are connected
- Set arrow symbol as the end-point style for these lines (new feature in Excel 2007 and above)
- Remove grid lines and legend
- Add data labels to either starting or end points alone.
- Add axis labels, position them accordingly
- Make axis and labels subtle.
- Add a descriptive chart title
And you are done. The chart should look something like this:
Bonus Step: Making a scatter plot of absolute values
As you can see, the above chart only shows changes in market share and profit share of products between Q1-2008 and Q2-2010. But a more descriptive option would be to show absolute position of each product at both times.
Like this:
To make this chart, all the steps are same as above, just change your data to starting and end points, not the calculated ones.
Download Competition Analysis Chart Templates:
I have prepared a simple excel chart template to help you create similar charts on your own. Click below links to download.
You can see the chart construction steps in the downloaded workbook.
What do you think about this chart?
As I mentioned I really liked how this chart lays out the dynamics of market place without complicating or animating anything. I think it is both simple and elegant [related: keep your charts simple]
What do you think? Please share your opinion and ideas thru comments. Also, tell us how you would have plotted same data?
More Excel Charts for Analysis:
Excel charts are powerful visual tools for analysis and exploration. We have posted several useful chart templates & ideas on chandoo.org. Please visit these pages for more resources on charting & analytics.
24 Responses
I’d suggest simply using the subtotal function and filtering the data using the Win/Loss column. You get the same results and the formula is more comprehensible.
@John
That is one option.
There are times however when you want to see the whole data table or a filtered subset and still want to produce summary reports against an unfiltered field.
Is there a particular reason why you are using a comma and the unary (–) operator for the second array in the SUMPRODUCT formula? It seems to work the same if you were to string the arrays together using the asterisk (*). The advantage is that SUMPRODUCT treats the entire string of arrays as a single array.
@Mathew
Your correct, There is no difference.
I thought it may have been easier to explain this method.
Is there a way to do this on a large set of data? As in ~100,000 rows? When I try I get an error because the formula becomes too long. It says the max length of a formula is 8,192 characters. Excel 2010.
How do I incorporate a specific text within a cell for the second array. For instance, – -(C7:C13=”Apple”)
when I chose a specific text the formula does not work.
@RB
I am not sure what is the issue as if I use the sample data in the post the following work fine
Count:
=SUMPRODUCT(SUBTOTAL(3,OFFSET(C7:C13,ROW(C7:C13)-MIN(ROW(C7:C13)),,1)), –(C7:C13=”L”))
Sum:
=SUMPRODUCT(SUBTOTAL(3,OFFSET(C7:C13,ROW(C7:C13)-MIN(ROW(C7:C13)),,1)),(C7:C13=”L”)*(D7:D13))
You may want to check that there are no leading or trailing spaces in your list of Apples
I should have given a better explanation. Heres my situation. I have a column with cells filled with names like Column 1, Column 2, Pier 1, Pier 2, etc. If the cell just contained Pier and searched for that it works. But because it has other characters in the cell its not recognizing the pier. So how can I extract specific characters of a string of text in this formula?
Hopefully this was a better explanation
Hello-
This formula works pretty well for me except that it slow down excel and prevents some of my macros from working. I was wondering if there was a way to program this in VBA so that excel isn’t always trying to recalculate it. I would like to use a push of a button to get it to run then paste in a cell.
Thanks!
I am trying to sum filtered data in a column, but would want to ignore the negative values in the column. How to go about doing this?
@Akshay
Why not just add a filter to that column to only show the values greater than zero?
The negative values are required for reporting purposes, but their effect on the total is distorting the required output. Please advise.
@Akshay
I’d suggest making a post in the Chandoo.org Forums
http://forum.chandoo.org/
Attach a sample file to simplify the task
I have this working for counting and summing, however, I have a list and for the second array, I need a criteria. That is, I’m looking for b13:b200=”01.??.??” or =left((a1,2) or something like that. These types of criteria matches do not appear to work as I get a blank as a result.
Thanks!
@Bob
As your formula b13:b200=”01.??.??” looks like you are trying to check the first day of the month of the range
What about trying Day(B13:B200)=1
Hai Experts,
i understood this formula well and working fine in MS Excel 2013
but when the same am trying to place in google Spreadsheet it shows error as
“SUMPRODUCT has mismatched range sizes. Expected row count: 1. column count: 1. Actual row count: 2014, column count: 1.” and as a result #VALUE! Appears in cell.
Can anyone please help me how would i get it done in Google Spread sheet
or is there any other formula as a substitute for this.
Thank you very much.
thanks for providing this.. but why does excel keeps on prompting Circular referencing in cell D3?
@Vivek
I don’t know
I just downloaded the file and it is working fine and not showing that error
Goto the Formulas, Calculation Options Tab and check that Calculation is set to Automatic
What version of Excel and Windows are you using ?
I know that this forum is for MS Excel, but I am trying to help someone who is working in Google Sheets. The below formula works in Excel but Google Sheets returns:
“SUMPRODUCT has mismatched range sizes. Expected row count: 1. column count: 1. Actual row count: 39000, column count: 1.” and as a result #VALUE! Appears in cell.
This is the same problem asked by Srichirin above. Does anyone know if there is a formula for Google Sheets that will replicate what MS Excel does?
=SUMPRODUCT(SUBTOTAL(3,OFFSET($C$6:$C$39500,ROW($C$6:$C$39500)-MIN(ROW($C$6:$C$39500)),,1)),- -($C$6:$C$39500=H1),($D$6:$D$39500))
Trying to find a SUMPRODUCT formula that counts the word Closed by date for the last 7 days in a filtered list.
=COUNTIF(M:M,”>”&TODAY()-7) works ok for unfiltered count Column M contains Closure dates (blank if open) and Column L is Status Open or Closed
@ Terry
Please ask the question at the Chandoo.org Forums
https://chandoo.org/forum/
Please attach a sample file to ensure a quicker more accurate answer
I used this formula and worked like a charm! But, now I’ve been requested to use it but adding not one but two criteria in the same formula. For instance the sum I was doing added negative and positive numbers. I’ve been asked to use the exact same formula but adding that only positive numbers were considered… any idea on how to do this?
How exactly do you do sum filtered cells when two criteria are need not just one?
Thank you so much brother literally I have been struggling since morning to get the sum of the filtered category, however, after reading your blog attentively i got my solution, so thanks a lot once again.