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Costs vs prices
A gap between production costs and selling prices is squeezing profitability.
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Power BI · Rawaj HCM internship
NovaMart Sales Analysis
Where is a growing retailer losing profit, and what should it do about it? I built a 3-page Power BI report that answers both.
£541,887Net revenue
£126,287Net profit
523Orders analysed
105Returned orders (20%)
£108KCost of returned goods
The brief
Three main issues
NovaMart's revenue looked healthy, yet profit was shrinking. My summary for the business:
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Returns
Returned orders add cost without bringing in revenue.
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Corporate concentration
The Corporate segment exists in only one region, which is a dependency risk.
Walkthrough
How I built it, step by step
Understand and connect the data
Loaded five tables: sales, products, stores, customers and monthly targets. Linked them on product, store and customer IDs.
Why: one connected model lets any slicer filter every chart.
Prepare the numbers with DAX
Created measures for net revenue, COGS, net profit and average profit %. Returned orders earn no net revenue but their cost still counts.
Why: this is what exposes the true cost of returns.
Design the Overview page
Added KPI cards, then charts by region, channel and category. Slicers for customer segment, promotion type and product name.
Why: a stakeholder can answer their own "what about…?" questions.
Dig into root causes (Insights page)
For each surprising chart I asked "why?" until I found a cause: segments, categories, returns, then costs against discounts.
Turn findings into proposals
Each recommendation is tagged by impact and effort so the business knows what to do first.
The dashboard
Explore it yourself
Insights & root causes
What the data showed
1
North is the growth engine, but also a risk
North earns the most revenue (£340,079) and profit (£78,659). The Corporate segment sits only in North, so the region leans heavily on one segment.
So what: growth alone is not efficient. Discounts or costly operations may be eating the gain.
2
Online leads slightly
Online revenue (£279K) edges out stores (£262K). Corporate customers buy mostly online; consumers prefer stores.
So what: digital is a key driver of future growth.
3
Electronics sells most but earns least per pound
Electronics brings £463K revenue but only £87K profit (about 19% margin). Furniture runs near 47% and Stationery 63%.
So what: hidden cost factors are hiding in Electronics.
4
Returns cost money and bring in none
105 of 523 orders were returned. Returned goods cost about £108K, of which £98K is Electronics. Corporate customers buy that category heavily.
So what: investigate return causes, since there is a reputational risk too.
5
Costs hurt far more than discounts
Discounts reduce profit by about 32%. Production costs, including returned products that may not be restocked, account for roughly 87%.
So what: fixing cost and returns matters more than trimming discounts.
Proposals
What I recommended
Ranked by impact and effort. The quick wins come first.
1. New pricing strategy
Re-evaluate prices to close the gap between production cost and selling price.
2. Targeted discounts
Move from broad discounting to targeted promotions to lift margins quickly.
3. Promote high-margin products
Push Furniture and Stationery to raise average profit per order.
4. Diversify customer segments
Win more Consumer customers to balance the margin mix.
5. Reduce return rates
Improve product quality, supplier management and customer expectations, starting with Electronics.
6. Reduce store-related costs
Review locations and renegotiate rent.
7. Expand corporate outreach
Target corporate clients in new regions to grow the market and reduce reliance on North.
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