March. The start of spring. And the annual NCAA men’s college basketball tournament—March Madness™. While many teams suffer the agony of defeat, others rejoice gleefully as their alma maters or home-town favorites advance throughout the tourney in hopes of cutting down those nets.
But college basketball teams aren’t the only ones to experience joy or sorrow. With consumers growing more mindful about health and wellness, in search of convenience and aware of online shopping options, in-store purchasing patterns have shifted significantly over the past five years. These shifts have resulted in some areas of the store facing sales challenges, while others have put forth winning formulas.
Using our uniquely integrated sales universe, we created our annual bracket that pits different areas of the store against one another to understand what area of the store is winning. This year, we ranked each of our 16 standard departments based on its 2018 volume sales. Departments advanced based on year-over-year volume growth.
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