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Have you ever conducted part-to-whole key categories comparisons in your data? You will agree that it is not a walk in the park.
It only gets more complicated if you are dealing with bulky data. Such a situation becomes a never-ending battle as you gather essential insights from your data.
For this reason, you need a visualization that can help you show parts of multiple totals. You need a chart that can help you make comparisons of two data sets in one space.
What chart is suitable for this case? You guessed right. It is the Stacked Column Chart with two sets of data that can significantly be of use.
This graph is essential because it will help you reveal part-to-whole insights in your data story.
In this blog, we will help you understand more about the Stacked Column Chart with two sets of data. By the end, you will know how to create one.
But first, let’s define the chart.
Definition: A Stacked Column Chart is an extension of the standard Column Chart.
Let us explain.
A Stacked Column Chart has columns divided into several sub-bars stacked end-to-end on each other.
Your point of interest is the Stacked Column Chart with two data sets. This is because the chart is suitable for tracking trends of crucial data points over time.
One interesting fact about the Stacked Column Chart is that it is a better visualization than a Pie Chart. Why? It’s because it performs better in revealing part-to-whole relationships.
Furthermore, the visualization is easy to read and interpret.
We hope you are following us so far.
The question is, how do we create one? Let’s find out in the next section.
When creating a Stacked Column Chart, you can use either Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. Most individuals use these spreadsheet tools. They are easy and free to use.
However, these spreadsheet applications come with basic Stacked Column Charts in their libraries. Customizing your charts will take extra hours to make them more appealing to your audience.
However, we have the best solution for you.
The remedy for this situation is supercharging your spreadsheet tools with a third-party application.
The third-party application will help you access more insightful charts, such as the Stacked Column Chart.
We recommend one of the best third-party applications called ChartExpo. It can significantly help you if you wish to create irresistible graphs and charts.
ChartExpo has a user-friendly interface. This means you don’t need advanced knowledge to use it. It comes with numerous charts you can easily customize.
Let’s use a practical example in Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel. You will be amazed by the final results.
Let’s assume you want to compare the two age groups in various locations. The products are clothing and accessories years.
With such data, which chart would you go for?
You guessed right. A Stacked Column Chart with two sets of data is best suited for this job.
Let us assume you collected the data in the table below.
| Locations | Clothing | Accessories |
| Venice Street | 885 | 150 |
| Evo Mall | 771 | 195 |
| Dolphin Street | 664 | 153 |
| Tommy Avenue | 647 | 124 |
| Reno Street | 549 | 116 |
Let’s follow the simple steps below to obtain a Pareto Chart:
Then, scroll through the numerous chart templates until you see the Stacked Column Chart.
Your final chart will appear as shown below.
In this case, we will use Microsoft Excel to create a Stacked Column Chart with two sets. We will use the same example we used in Google Sheets.
Assuming you have the data with the two product groups from various locations.
To get started with ChartExpo in Excel, follow the steps below:
Your final chart will appear as shown below.
In the following video, you will learn how to Create a Stacked Column Chart with two sets of data in Excel.
The following are some of the tips you should follow in reading a Stacked Column Chart:
It is essential to review the chart’s trend. This strategy helps you to gain more insights from your visualization. From the example we discussed earlier, all the locations have a higher sales of clothing.
All the locations show a similar trend of products distribution.
You should understand key data points and their respective contexts. Therefore, the Chart helps to compare the data points on different categories of data and it makes analysis more easy and more understandable.
When you use a Stacked Column Chart, your objective is to obtain insights from categorical variables in your data.
You plot your columns in each categorical variable level. Each column’s length indicates the total value of a particular dimension. In addition, each column has sub-bars that correspond to sub categories.
You can use a Stacked Column Chart with two sets of values if your objective is to visualize each column’s relative decomposition.
You can also use the Stacked Column Chart to compare critical data points. This comparison can help you identify trends and outliers in your data.
Lastly, you can use a Stacked Column Chart with two sets of data to visualize hierarchical data. It is less effective in this role as compared to charts such as the Sunburst Graph. You can also obtain hierarchical insights from a Stacked Column Chart.
A Stacked Column Chart can help you save time. It can visualize bulky data more quickly than other comparison charts.
Manually Sorting your survey responses can take much time and can be exhausting. With a Stacked Column Chart, you can visualize many survey responses at once quickly and efficiently.
One of the primary advantages of a Stacked Column Chart is that you can easily identify comparison insights.
You can also identify key data points easily because they are on top of each other. You only need to customize your chart to help you identify them easily. You can assign a different color to each data point. You can also indicate each data point’s percentage with respect to its total value.
If your objective is to reveal outliers in your visualization, a Stacked Column Chart with two sets of data is the best.
Let us explain.
For instance, you own a company that sells different phone brands countrywide. With time, you are trying to establish the best and worst-selling phone brands.
One of the lowest-selling brands performed well in one month. This performance made you respond to the demand by ordering more quantities of the brand.
After responding to your customer’s demands, the brand sales drop drastically to the point of no recovery. Assuming this happens in your second year of sales when you have a significant inventory for the worst-selling phone brand.
This is one of the outliers that a Stacked Column Chart can identify to avoid making such errors in the future.
You can use a Stacked Column Chart to reveal part-to-whole relationships in your data story.
You can also use this chart to show parts of the total value. In addition, you can use this chart to visualize ranking data. A Stacked Column can visualize many variables in one space.
You can create a Stacked Column Chart with two sets of data with spreadsheet applications such as Google Sheets and Excel.
You only need to supercharge these applications with a third-party app called ChartExpo. It will help you access a Stack Column Chart with two sets of data ready-template.
In a nutshell, obtaining part-to-whole insights from bulky data is not a walk in the park. To succeed in getting such insights, you will require a suitable chart.
From our discussions, we have learned that the Stacked Column Chart of data is best suited for this job.
We recommend this chart if you want to uncover hidden insights and outliers in your data.
We have also learned that Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel have a basic Stacked Column Chart. It could not be of much help in our practical example.
In addition, the practical example was to help you learn how to create a Stacked Column Chart with two sets of data.
We supercharged our spreadsheet applications with a third-party application called ChartExpo. It saved the day since we could obtain a ready Stacked Column Chart template which we could customize with colors and a legend.
Here is the kicker.
You, too, can benefit from the advantages of using ChartExpo. Now it’s your turn to improve your visualization experience.
Start a 7-day free trial today to visualize your data with ChartExpo and access charts that give part-to-whole insights. Do not be left out.
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What is a Likert scale rating? Click here to learn how to create a Likert scale survey using Google Forms and analyze survey data in Google Sheets.
What is a survey scale? Click to learn how to create a survey using Google Forms and how to analyze survey scale questions in Google Sheets.
What is a trendline? Click to learn types of trendlines to add in your visualizations and how to add a trendline in Google Sheets.
