Looking for real world business data to explore?

How about another chance to win a free all-access membership to Maven?

Look no further!

We’ve just added a rich new dataset to the Data Playground, this time with sales & inventory data from Maven Toys, a (fictitious) chain of small toy stores in Mexico.

This dataset is perfect for applying your data exploration, analysis, and visualization skills to a real world business scenario, so fire up your favorite BI tools (Excel, MySQL, Power BI, Tableau, etc.) and dive in!

To go along with this release, we’re launching the Maven Toys Challenge and giving away a free all-access membership to the winner.

We’ll share more about the challenge details below, but first let’s talk about the data…

About the dataset

This dataset contains 4 tables, in CSV format:

• The Products table contains the 35 products sold at Maven Toys (each record represents one product), with fields containing details about the product category, cost, and retail price

• The Stores table contains the 50 Maven Toys store locations (each record represents one store), with fields containing details about the store location, type, and date it opened

• The Sales table contains the units sold in over 800,000 sales transactions from January 2017 to October 2018 (each record represents the purchase of a specific product at a specific store on a specific date)

• The Inventory table contains over 1,500 records that represent the stock on hand of each product in each store at the current point in time (Oct 1, 2018)

How to play the Maven Toys Challenge

For the Maven Toys Challenge, you will be assuming the role of a BI consultant that has just been hired by Maven Toys. As they look to expand their business with new stores, they've brought you in to analyze interesting patterns and trends in their data and help them make informed decisions.

Your task is to share a single-page visual or dashboard that outlines a potential expansion plan and contains the supporting data from your analysis.

Here’s how to submit your entry:

• Follow Maven Analytics on LinkedIn (existing followers can still play)

• Share a LinkedIn post containing the both a direct @ mention to @Maven Analytics, and the hashtag #maventoyschallenge

• In your post, share a single-page visualization or dashboard based on the challenge objective above

• Tag, mention, and invite your connections to play along!

How to win

Finalists will be chosen by a panel of previous challenge winners, Maven Hall of Famers, and the Maven team. Each panelist will name one finalist, and the winner will be selected from the finalist pool by the Maven team, via live voting.

What you can win

As part of the Maven Toys Challenge, we'll be giving away 1 annual all-access Maven membership completely free of charge. The winner will get access to all of our Excel, Power BI, Tableau, and SQL courses, as well as our ongoing Machine Learning series, all with direct support and coaching from our expert instructors.

No purchase is necessary to participate. As always, this challenge is open to both current Maven subscribers and new students who have no relationship with Maven.

Check out the official rules below...

Official Terms (Maven Toys Challenge)

• Maven Analytics will give away 1 Annual subscription for an Individual account. After the one year period, the subscription will expire.

• No purchase is necessary to enter.

• The challenge will close to new entries on Tuesday, May 25th, 2021, at 11:59pm Eastern Standard Time. All entries must be submitted prior.

• After the submission deadline, finalists will be chosen by a panel of previous challenge winners, Maven Hall of Famers, and the Maven team. Each panelist will name one finalist.

• Maven Analytics will select 1 winner from the finalists, and will announce the winner on Tuesday, June 1st, 2021 at 10:00am Eastern Standard Time. The official announcement will be posted on LinkedIn from the Maven Analytics LinkedIn account.

Don't want to participate in the Maven Toys Challenge? No problem. You can still analyze the data on your own. All of the Data Playground datasets are completely free and are available for everyone to learn with. Feel free to dig in anytime.

Check out the Mexico Toy Sales dataset, and many more, at the Data Playground.

Happy analyzing!