Management

This graph illustrates both the monthly actual sales and monthly forecast sales of Mike’s Toys and Things from January to December in 2011. It can be seen that in the graph, the x-axis represents the months in 2011, and the y-axis represents the amount of sales.

As shown in the graph above, forecast sales and actual costs were related. Between January and June, monthly forecast sales raised smoothly, while actual sales fluctuated dramatically. From the point of October, forecast sales and actual sales followed a similar trend, both had a notable expectation increase.  

At the beginning of the year of 2011, actual sale was $2000 more than forecast sales in both January and February. However, between February and June, actuals fluctuated dramatically with the highest values of $8000 and the lowest value of $3000, while forecast sales increased slightly during these five months. From June to October, forecast sales rised rapidly from $12000 to $22000, meanwhile actual sales increased slightly, then kept a trough from July to September and raised slightly with $11000in October. After that point, both forecast sales and actual sales rised significantly until the end of the year, it could be a possible reason that a suitable marketing strategy was found for the company. The highest value of forecast sales was $35000 and $25000 of actual sales, both were reached in December of 2011.

In conclusion, it can be seen that Mike’s Toys and Things was a successful business from October to the end of 2011. However, in actual sales, the company has suffered a significant fluctuation between January and June and remained steady from July to September. It might need to examine its weakness and the reasons for the fluctuation, and then form a recovery strategy, as the company is to be more successful in the future.