Chart explanation, below code.

pacman::p_load(pacman,tidyverse,gridExtra,zoo)

# Read the data
ebay_data <- read_csv("eBay.csv", col_types = cols(
  Year = col_character(),
  `Billion USD` = col_double()
))

# Convert Year to a date format for easier plotting
ebay_data <- ebay_data %>%
  separate(Year, into = c("Year", "Quarter"), sep = " ") %>%
  mutate(Quarter = case_when(
    Quarter == "Q1" ~ "01",
    Quarter == "Q2" ~ "04",
    Quarter == "Q3" ~ "07",
    Quarter == "Q4" ~ "10"
  ),
  Date = as.Date(paste(Year, Quarter, "01", sep = "-"))
  ) %>%
  select(Date, `Billion USD`)

# Line chart with a smoothed line
line_plot <- ggplot(ebay_data, aes(x = Date, y = `Billion USD`)) +
  geom_line(color = "blue") +
  geom_smooth(method = "loess", color = "red") +
  labs(title = "eBay Sales Revenue Over Time", x = "Year", y = "Billion USD") +
  theme_minimal()

# Bar chart
bar_plot <- ggplot(ebay_data, aes(x = Date, y = `Billion USD`)) +
  geom_bar(stat = "identity", fill = "lightblue") +
  labs(title = "Quarterly eBay Sales Revenue", x = "Year", y = "Billion USD") +
  theme_minimal()

# Boxplot to show distribution by year
box_plot <- ggplot(ebay_data, aes(x = factor(year(Date)), y = `Billion USD`)) +
  geom_boxplot(fill = "orange") +
  labs(title = "Distribution of eBay Sales Revenue by Year", x = "Year", y = "Billion USD") +
  theme_minimal()

# Check for seasonality by aggregating the average sales per quarter
seasonality_data <- ebay_data %>%
  mutate(Quarter = quarters(Date)) %>%
  group_by(Quarter) %>%
  summarise(Average_Sales = mean(`Billion USD`))

# Plot the seasonality data
seasonality_plot <- ggplot(seasonality_data, aes(x = Quarter, y = Average_Sales)) +
  geom_bar(stat = "identity", fill = "lightgreen") +
  labs(title = "Average eBay Sales by Quarter", x = "Quarter", y = "Average Sales (Billion USD)") +
  theme_minimal()

# Combine all plots into a single display
grid.arrange(line_plot, bar_plot, box_plot, seasonality_plot, ncol = 1)
## `geom_smooth()` using formula = 'y ~ x'

eBay Sales Revenue Over Time:

This line graph displays eBay’s quarterly sales revenue from 2013 to 2024. The blue line represents the actual quarterly revenue. It shows a period of growth until around 2014, followed by a period of relative stability and a decline. The red line is a trendline, smoothing out the quarterly fluctuations to emphasise the general trend. Notably, the trendline suggests a decline during 2013 with a peak around 2018 followed by a slight downward trend. The shaded gray area represents the range of sales figures, highlighting the variability of quarterly revenue.

Quarterly eBay Sales Revenue:

Distribution of eBay Sales Revenue by Year:

This boxplot offers a different perspective on eBay’s annual sales revenue from 2013 to 2023. Each box represents the distribution of quarterly sales within a year. The line within the box indicates the median revenue, the box itself illustrates the interquartile range (middle 50% of the data), and the whiskers extend to the minimum and maximum values (excluding outliers). The black dots represent outliers, denoting exceptionally high or low quarterly sales for a specific year. The chart reveals a relatively stable median revenue over the years, with some fluctuations but no clear upward or downward trend. The range of quarterly sales also appears fairly consistent, suggesting that eBay’s revenue has been relatively stable over time.

Average eBay Sales by Quarter:

This bar chart displays the average sales for each quarter (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4) across all years. The bars show that eBay’s sales are fairly evenly distributed across the quarters, with Q2 and Q4 just edging ahead.

In Summary:

eBay experienced a period of growth in its early years, followed by a plateau and a slight decline in more recent years.

There is no single dominant quarter for eBay, with sales relatively evenly distributed across the year.

The range of quarterly sales has remained fairly consistent over time, suggesting relative stability in revenue.

While there are fluctuations within each year, the median annual revenue has remained relatively stable over the analysed period.