More Informative Ways to Chart Data

Hello,

I'm presenting data that shows our supplier hasn't changed their pricing in line with fluctuations in the market. The data is normalized as to show % increase/decrease over the past two years. I'm wondering if there are better charts/ways to show this data. I'm ok with how I'm presenting it as is, but just curious. Are there clearer methods/graphs? What are the interpretations of these methods?

Thanks!,
Aaron

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I think that's about as clear as the Chart is going to get. Well, you can fiddle with the color and line types to "group" them; so that metal materials, non-metal materials, and currency are meaningfully "different" but similar to others of the group, ie, different line types per group, and in color-groups, that kind of thing.

But fundamentally I think that you're past the "soft upper limit" of how many series you can put in one chart and still have it be easy-to-read.

Also I'd push you to put actual dates along the bottom axis there, so that it's a little more clear what the timeframe is, precisely.

This is probably an OK way to plot your data, but I am struggling to make a business interpretation of what you are showing.

What is your supplier supplying to you? I am asking this because I would be amazed to learn that there is a single source where you can procure all those commodities since they are raw materials.

Are all those colored lines the price fluctuations from your supplier, or of the market? Is the red line the price changes from your supplier, or the market?

The red line is marked "Price Changes (Average)" but if you are averaging prices for all those different goods, you are averaging apples and oranges. The markets for those goods are so diverse that I would think it would not make sense to average them. I would think you would have to show a separate chart for each comparison of market prices vs. your supplier's price for each commodity.

The title on your vertical axis refers to "%" but the numbers on the axis are factors. This should be consistent. If you want to talk about % then the numbers should be percentages, with 1 changed to 100%.

I'm OK with skipping dates on the bottom but your title should be explicit. Is it two full years from 1/1/2015 - 12/31/2016, or 7/1/2015 - 6/30/2017, or something else?