Column and bar charts in Google Sheets - Real Business Scenario

Scenario Mode

👤 Your Role: You are a sales analyst at a retail company.

📋 Request: Your manager wants a visual report showing monthly sales performance by product category for the first half of the year.

📊 Data: You have a table with sales data showing product categories, months from January to June, and sales amounts in dollars.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a column chart to display monthly sales by category and a bar chart to compare total sales per category.

Sample Data

Category	January	February	March	April	May	June
Electronics	12000	15000	13000	17000	16000	18000
Clothing	8000	7000	9000	8500	9500	10000
Home Goods	6000	6500	7000	7200	6800	7500
Books	4000	4200	4500	4700	4600	4800
Toys	3000	3200	3100	3300	3400	3500

1

Step 1: Calculate total sales for each category from January to June.

In cell H2, enter =SUM(B2:G2) and drag down to H6.

Expected Result

Electronics: 91000, Clothing: 52000, Home Goods: 41000, Books: 26800, Toys: 19500

2

Step 2: Create a column chart to show monthly sales by category.

Select range A1:G6, then Insert > Chart. In Chart Editor, choose Chart type: Column chart. Set 'Use row 1 as headers' and 'Use column A as labels'.

Expected Result

A column chart showing sales for each category across months January to June.

3

Step 3: Create a bar chart to compare total sales per category.

Select range A1:A6 and H1:H6, then Insert > Chart. In Chart Editor, choose Chart type: Bar chart. Set 'Use row 1 as headers' and 'Use column A as labels'.

Expected Result

A horizontal bar chart showing total sales for each category.

4

Step 4: Add chart titles and axis labels for clarity.

In Chart Editor, under Customize > Chart & axis titles, set Chart title to 'Monthly Sales by Category' for column chart and 'Total Sales by Category' for bar chart. Label horizontal and vertical axes appropriately.

Expected Result

Charts have clear titles and axis labels for easy understanding.

Final Result

Monthly Sales by Category (Column Chart)

| Electronics | ██████████████████████████████ |
| Clothing    | ██████████████████             |
| Home Goods  | ██████████████                 |
| Books       | ████████                      |
| Toys        | █████                        |

Total Sales by Category (Bar Chart)

Electronics ██████████████████████████████ 91000
Clothing    ██████████████████             52000
Home Goods  ██████████████                 41000
Books       ████████                      26800
Toys        █████                        19500

Bonus Challenge

Create a stacked column chart to show the contribution of each category to total monthly sales.

Show Hint

Select the range A1:G6, insert a chart, and choose 'Stacked column chart' in the Chart Editor.