Sales by trend
You need: Sales reports.
Sales by trend lays the period out as a Monday-to-Sunday matrix, broken down by category.
What it's for
Totals hide the shape of a week. This report shows it: which days carry the business, which are quiet, and whether that differs by category.
It is the report to use for decisions that are about the week rather than about the total — staffing, opening hours, when to run a promotion.
Reading the matrix
Rows are categories, columns are days of the week. The useful reading is across a row: a category that is flat all week behaves differently from one that spikes at the weekend.
Over a multi-week range each weekday aggregates all its occurrences, so a four-week range gives you four Mondays combined. That is what makes the pattern readable rather than noisy.
Watch the range length
An uneven range distorts the matrix. Thirty days contains five of some weekdays and four of others, so those columns are not comparable.
Use whole weeks when you want to compare days. Use any range you like when you only want each day's total.
What to do with it
| Pattern | Worth considering |
|---|---|
| One weekday consistently quiet | A promotion aimed at that day, or reduced staffing |
| Weekend-heavy in one category only | Menu or pricing specific to those days |
| A day that changed shape recently | Compare against an earlier range before assuming a trend |
Related pages
- Sales report — the total behind the pattern
- Product sales report — which articles drive each category
- Operations report — the shape of a single day, hour by hour