Pie 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 summary of product category sales to understand which categories contribute most to total sales.

📊 Data: You have monthly sales data for different product categories including Category and Sales Amount.

🎯 Deliverable: Create a pie chart in Google Sheets that shows the percentage of total sales for each product category.

Sample Data

Category	Sales Amount
Electronics	12000
Clothing	8000
Home & Garden	6000
Sports	4000
Books	2000
Toys	3000
Beauty	3500
Automotive	1500

1

Step 1: Enter the sales data into Google Sheets with 'Category' in column A and 'Sales Amount' in column B starting from row 2.

Expected Result

Data is organized in two columns: Category and Sales Amount.

2

Step 2: Select the range A1:B9 including headers and all data rows.

Expected Result

The data range is highlighted for chart creation.

3

Step 3: Insert a pie chart by clicking Insert > Chart from the menu.

Expected Result

A default chart appears on the sheet.

4

Step 4: In the Chart Editor on the right, set Chart type to 'Pie chart'.

Expected Result

The chart changes to a pie chart showing sales distribution by category.

5

Step 5: Under 'Customize' tab in Chart Editor, add 'Slice label' as 'Percentage' to show each slice's percent of total sales.

Expected Result

Each slice of the pie chart displays the percentage of total sales it represents.

6

Step 6: Add a chart title 'Sales Distribution by Product Category'.

Expected Result

The chart has a clear title describing the data.

Final Result

Electronics

↓

Clothing

↓

Home & Garden

↓

Sports

↓

Books

↓

Toys

↓

Beauty

↓

Automotive

✓Electronics is the largest sales category, contributing about 30% of total sales.

✓Clothing and Home & Garden are also significant contributors.

✓Smaller categories like Automotive and Books contribute less to total sales.

Bonus Challenge

Create a second pie chart that shows sales distribution only for categories with sales above 5000.

Show Hint

Use a filter or create a new table with only categories where Sales Amount > 5000, then create a pie chart from that filtered data.