Formula for Sales Growth to be fair

[anoble1]

I am having a little trouble figuring out a fair way to show what store is in the lead. I calculate month vs month from last year to this year.

Here is what I am doing now:
(Total Sales 2017 - Total Sales 2016) / ABS (Total Sales 2016)

Would you use this to compare: I mean crap looks like this 57,956 should be in the lead. That is some growth. But what formula would make this fair? Or am I using the correct one?
Growth 2016 YTD 2017 YTD
733.21% $1,036.60 $8,637.10
589.06% $8,410.90 $57,956.47

[6StringJazzer]

Typically this is done with percentages, just as you have done. The 57K figure does look like big growth, but the first store multiplied its sales by a factor or 8!

This is not so much an Excel question. You have to do some business analysis. The fact that the result surprises even you suggests that you might need to use metrics other than sales growth to evaluate these stores.

First, what are you going to do with this information? Is this being used to give bonuses to the store GMs? This should be based on achieving a predetermined target, not an after-the-fact analysis of who grew sales more. Is it to determine which stores need more support at the corporate level as far as marketing and advertising?

Second, the fact that these stores have such a big discrepancy in sales suggests that it might not make sense to compare them in the first place. If one is a neighborhood mini-mart in the city, and the other is a big box store in a suburb, comparisons might not be meaningful because they are in different markets and have different expectations.

When you compare two entities for growth, and one starts out very, very small, you are going to get numbers that don't mean much. If I have a dollar in my pocket and then earn $10 picking up bottles and taking them back for the deposits, I have multiplied my wealth by a factor of 11. But my buddy who had $10 to start with only doubled his wealth. And the millionaire who earned $100,000 last year increased his wealth by just 10%. Who did best?

Third, what are the drivers for sales changes? Maybe the first one had a competitor across the street go out of business? Does one stock groceries (high revenue/low margin), and the other beer and cigarettes?

P.S. You do not need to use the ABS function because sales will always be non-negative.

[anoble1]

Yeah will be used as a bonus at the end of the year.
Stores are selling this particular brand and products at same price.

I'll take that ABS out of there.
Maybe I can think of another way to measure along with this growth formula. Kind of brain dead.

[6StringJazzer]

Like I said, your formula is perfectly valid--you have a business problem. Percent growth is fine if you are comparing apples to apples. I just don't know what kind of apples you are comparing. You could instead reward $ growth, which is what you probably want to maximize anyway. Or you could have a formula that considers them both. I am not in retail so I can't be much more help.