Describe Trends in Business English - Describing Statistics, Sales and Market Trends

Hi, I’m Kasia.

In this lesson, you can learn how  to describe trends and statistics,  

with a focus on business English use. That means  you’ll learn how to describe sales figures,  

market trends, and company successes or failures.

You’ll see useful language to talk  about statistics in different ways,  

including how to describe line graphs, proportions  and pie charts, and comparing different trends.

Do you want English subtitles while watching  this video? Click the ‘CC’ button in the bottom  

right now to turn on English subtitles if you need  them. On a mobile device, tap the settings button.

Now, let’s look at our first topic: how to  describe sales figures in different time periods. 

Sales to the 18 to 35 age group increased  consistently over the year. Sales rose from  

just under two million in the first quarter  to a little over two million by the end of Q4.

Sales were strongest overall  to the 36 to 50 demographic,  

with figures improving by five million between  Q1 and Q3. However, the most spectacular  

results were seen in Q4; sales doubled  from Q3, reaching a peak of 15 million.

For the 51 to 65 group, results were  solid but there was only a negligible  

increase for the full year. Sales  initially fell between Q1 and Q2,  

but recovered from four million in  Q2 to 6.5 million by the end of Q4.

Finally, sales to those aged 66 and up  decreased steadily throughout the year.  

Sales fell from eight million in the first  quarter to two million by the end of Q4. There  

was a particularly pronounced decline between  Q2 and Q3, when sales dropped by three million. 

Look at a sentence. 

What word could you use to complete the  sentence? There’s more than one possible  

answer! Pause the video and think about  it. Try to get as many answers as you can. 

You could say: ‘Sales *increased*  from 150 million to 200 million.’ 

Or, you could say: ‘Sales *rose*  from 150 million to 200 million.’

You could also say ‘grew’, ‘improved’,  

or ‘climbed’. Note that you can only use ‘improve’  if you’re talking about something positive. 

All these verbs follow the same pattern. However, you can use them in other ways.  

Look at two sentences. Do you know the difference? Could you explain it? 

Let’s do this by example. 

If these are the figures, which is correct?  Did sales increase *to* 1,000, or *by* 1,000?

The correct answer is: ‘Sales increased  

*to* 1,000’. What about ‘increased  by’? What would the numbers look like? 

If sales increased *by* 1,000,  the numbers might look like this. 

The same rule works with the other verbs you saw  before: ‘rise’, ‘grow’, ‘improve’ and ‘climb’.

Look at one more sentence: 

How many words could you use  to complete this sentence? 

You could say ‘decrease’, but again  there are other possibilities;  

‘fall’ and ‘drop’ are also common. You could also  use ‘decline’, although it’s rarer as a verb.

You can use the same patterns you saw before.  For example, you can say that something  

decreased from something to something.  Or, you can use ‘by’ after these verbs.

Finally, many of these verbs can also be used  as nouns. For example: ‘There was a large  

increase in sales figures in  the first quarter of the year.’ 

‘There was a steady fall in  advertising revenues throughout 2019.’ 

‘We experienced a sudden drop  in web traffic in August.’ 

In some cases, the noun form is  different, as in ‘grow - growth’, 

or ‘improve - improvement’. You can use these nouns in the way you just saw.  

For example: ‘There was a steady growth  in advertising revenues throughout 2019.’

Now, you should have many  different ways to describe trends.  

Let’s see how you can describe  percentages and proportions.

More than half (55%) of our sales were vehicle  insurance. The second highest performer was  

home insurance, making up one-fifth of policies  sold. Life and health insurance each comprised  

ten per cent of total sales, while travel  insurance accounted for the smallest  

percentage of sales, at just five per cent. If you want to talk about percentages and  

proportions, you’ll need to use different language  compared to talking about trends and quantities.

Look at some sentences you  heard in the presentation. 

Can you remember the missing words? Pause the  video and try to find the answers. If you want,  

you can also go back and review the presentation.

Ready? Let's check.

To talk about proportions, you might need to  talk about fractions, like in sentence one.

Do you know other words for fractions in English? 

You can say ‘a third’, ‘a quarter’, ‘a fifth’,  and so on. Then, you can add words like  

‘more than’ or ‘less than’ to  describe things more accurately.

For example: ‘Less than a third of customers  said they would recommend us to a friend.’ 

‘More than three quarters of  purchases were through our website.’ 

You might also need verbs like  ‘comprise’ or ‘account for. 

A similar verb is ‘make up’. You heard ‘The  second highest performer was home insurance,  

making up one-fifth of policies sold.’ You can use these verbs with percentages  

or fractions. For example, you can say ‘Clothing  sales accounted for 80% of our revenue last year.’ 

Or, you could say ‘Clothing sales accounted  for four-fifths of our revenue last year.’

Again, you can add a modifier, like ‘more than’  or ‘approximately’, if you need to. For example:  

‘Clothing sales accounted for approximately  four-fifths of our revenue last year.’ 

Or: ‘Clothing sales accounted for just  under four-fifths of our revenue last year.’ 

In this way, you can describe a wide range  of figures as precisely as you need to.

Let’s move on to our next point:  describing rates of change.

In Europe, the number of new customers fluctuated  between 2017 and 2020, but overall numbers  

remained constant, with figures for 2020 very  close to those for the beginning of the period.

In Asia, numbers increased in every year, but  between 2019 and 2020 there was a dramatic rise,  

reaching a peak of 30 million  new customers gained in 2020.

Customer acquisition in the  Americas saw steady growth,  

with numbers rising by around  five million each year.

In the Middle East and North Africa, the number  of new customers collapsed between 2017 and 2018,  

reaching a low point of just half a  million in 2018. Customer acquisition  

figures then levelled off, with only small  fluctuations over the remaining period. 

Let’s look at some language  you saw in the presentation. 

Look at the highlighted words. Imagine that you  want to explain what they mean to a colleague  

who hasn’t seen them before. How would you  explain the words in English? Think about it! 

If a figure fluctuates, it moves up and  down, but the overall change is small.  

Here, it means that the  number increased and decreased  

in different years, but that the number  in 2020 was close to the number for 2017. 

A dramatic rise means a really large, sudden  increase. ‘Dramatic’ is a strong word,  

so don’t overuse it – save it for exceptional  cases. If you want other words to describe  

a large increase, you could say ‘a significant  rise’, ‘a considerable rise’ or ‘a large rise’.

Remember that ‘increase’ can also be used as  a noun, so you can say ‘a dramatic rise’ or ‘a  

dramatic increase’. You can say ‘a significant  rise’ or ‘a significant increase’, and so on. 

‘Steady growth’ means that something increases  at a constant rate over a period of time.  

You can also say ‘gradual growth’ or  ‘continuous growth’, with a similar meaning. 

Finally, in sentence four,  ‘collapse’ means to decrease  

by a large amount in a short time. ‘Collapse’ has  the meaning of something negative or destructive.  

Generally, if something collapses,  then it doesn’t exist any more.

‘Collapse’ can be a verb or a noun.  You can use it as a noun like this:  

‘After the collapse of the company,  thousands were made redundant.’

Now, let’s look at our final point.

2020 was a strong year for our vehicle insurance  arm. In fact, in the second half of the year,  

sales hit their highest levels ever, which made  a significant contribution to our record profits  

for the year. The home insurance division  also did well, with a solid performance  

throughout 2020. Although life insurance  constituted a small proportion of our total,  

sales nonetheless outperformed expectations, and  we’re hoping to build on that growth in 2021.

On the other hand, our health insurance  division had a disappointing year,  

with sales falling well below expectations.  Challenging market conditions led to a significant  

increase in customer acquisition costs, meaning  that profitability was also negatively impacted.  

Sales of travel insurance were also poor,  although broadly in line with predictions. 

Look at some sentences from the presentation  relating to a strong sales performance. 

Can you remember or guess the missing words?  Pause the video and try to find your answers. 

Let’s take a look. 

Sales figures can be strong if they’re  better than expected. You can also use  

general words like ‘good’ or ‘excellent’. In sentence two, you can also say ‘reached’.  

If sales hit their highest levels ever, then  you could say that you set a new record.

You set a new record when you reach a level  which is better than you ever have in the past. 

In sentence three, ‘outperform’ means to  perform better than expected. The opposite verb  

is ‘underperform’, so if figures are  

worse than expected, you could say that  a department or a company underperformed. 

What about if sales were poor?  Look at three more sentences. 

Can you remember the missing words? You know what  to do! Pause the video and get your answers now. 

Could you remember? Let’s look together. If sales are worse than you expected,  

you could also describe them as  ‘weak’, ‘poor’, or just ‘bad’. 

In sentence two, ‘challenging’ means  something like ‘difficult’. ‘Challenging  

market conditions’ means that doing business  and making sales is harder than it normally is. 

Don’t forget: the presentations contain  many more examples of language you can use  

to describe market trends and company performance.  

Review them several times and find words  and phrases which you can use in your work!

Thanks for watching!

See you next time!