A Deep Dive into BigQuery’s thelook_ecommerce Dataset Using Terno AI

Weekday or Weekend: When Do Shoppers Really Click “Buy”?

A Deep Dive into BigQuery’s thelook_ecommerce Dataset Using Terno AI

Introduction

In the fast-moving world of e-commerce, timing can be everything. From the perfect moment to launch a flash sale to identifying the right day to restock, understanding when customers are most active can shape an entire sales strategy.

That’s the question we set out to answer with Terno AI, the no-code conversational data-science platform that lets anyone analyze complex datasets instantly. Using Google BigQuery’s public dataset — thelook_ecommerce, we explored a simple-sounding but powerful question:

Do customers shop more during the week or on weekends — and what does that reveal about their behavior?

This seemingly small question opened a window into a much broader story of shopper habits, loyalty, and sales timing.

About the Dataset: thelook_ecommerce on BigQuery

Google’s thelook_ecommerce dataset is a treasure trove for data scientists and business analysts alike. It simulates a real retail business with rich, relational tables containing customer, order, and product information.

For this analysis, we used:

• orders – Each transaction with order timestamps and item counts
• order_items – Line-item level details including sale prices
• users – Customer demographics like age, gender, and location

By connecting Terno AI directly to the BigQuery dataset (no CSVs, no manual uploads), we could run conversational queries and auto-generate visualizations instantly — bar charts, pie charts, and even geo-maps — all in one interactive workflow.If you haven’t set up the connection yet, check out our step-by-step guide to connecting BigQuery with Terno AI.

How Terno AI Makes Analysis Effortless

Traditional analytics usually means hours of SQL coding, cleaning data, and building charts manually. With Terno AI, it’s as simple as asking a question in plain English — just like talking to a human data scientist.

When we started with:“I’m curious — do customers tend to shop more during the week or on weekends?”Terno AI automatically identified the orders table, detected the timestamp field, classified days into weekdays vs. weekends, and generated both the results and a bar-chart visualization within seconds. 

Click https://sandra1.app.terno.ai/chat/share/328866b3-f160-4f48-bedf-3cf5202acdb1    to see the chat summary of our analysis.

Question 1: Do Customers Shop More During the Week or Weekends?

Prompt: " I am curious to know, do customers tend to shop more during the week or on weekends?"

• Weekdays: 89 827 orders
• Weekends: 35 161 orders

Insight: Customers overwhelmingly prefer shopping during the workweek, possibly when routines and digital engagement are highest. The weekend slump might indicate offline activities or reduced marketing campaigns.The numbers tell a clear story.

That’s nearly 72 % of all orders placed Monday – Friday.

Question 2: Do Shoppers Buy More Items per Order on Weekends?

Next, we wanted to know whether weekend shoppers compensate by buying more per order.

Prompt: “Can you check if people buy more items per order on weekends, or if it stays about the same as weekdays?. Maybe a side-by-side bar chart would help visualize it clearly."

Terno AI queried the num_of_item field in seconds and revealed:

• Weekday Average: 1.45 items/order
• Weekend Average: 1.44 items/order

Basket sizes remain almost identical. Customers may be buying fewer times on weekends, but not necessarily smaller orders. This consistency reflects stable product interest and well-balanced inventory.

Question 3: Who Drives Weekend Sales — New or Returning Customers?

Customer retention is the heartbeat of any online business. So we asked:

Prompt: “Are most of the weekend sales coming from new shoppers or returning customers?”

Terno AI classified each order based on whether it was a customer’s first purchase and found:

• New Shoppers: 22 651 orders
• Returning Customers: 12 510 orders

That means roughly two-thirds of weekend sales come from new shoppers.

Insight: Weekends attract fresh audiences — likely driven by ad campaigns, social media discovery, or leisure browsing. Retention efforts could focus on converting these weekend first-timers into loyal weekday buyers.

Question 4: Does Gender Affect Shopping Patterns Across Weekdays and Weekends?

We explored whether the gender mix shifts between weekdays and weekends.
Prompt: “Does the weekend attract a different mix of male and female buyers compared to weekdays?”

Insight: The answer surprised us with its balance. The gender split remains almost perfectly even. Weekends see a tiny uptick in female shoppers, but overall engagement is balanced.

Question 5: Which Age Groups Are Most Active on Weekends?

Demographics often tell a deeper story.

Prompt: “Which age group seems most active on weekends — younger customers or older ones?”

Using customer birthdates from the users table, Terno AI calculated a median age split and compared orders:

• Younger (< median): 17 379 orders (49.43 %)
• Older (≥ median): 17 782 orders (50.57 %)

Insight: Older shoppers hold a slight edge. While activity is nearly even, this suggests that mature customers use weekends to browse at leisure, while younger audiences might already complete purchases during the week.

Question 6: Which Regions Generate the Most Weekend Sales?

Finally, we wanted to see where the weekend action happens geographically.

Prompt: “Which regions or states bring in the most sales during weekends?”

By joining orders, order_items, and users, Terno AI computed weekend revenue by location.

Insight: California dominates, followed by New York and Texas. Together, these three states generate over 40 % of weekend sales, mirroring national population and digital-shopping intensity.

Pulling It All Together: The Complete Picture

What Businesses Can Learn from This Analysis

1. Run Core Promotions Mid-Week (Tue–Wed).
   Engagement and AOV peak early in the week — capitalize with targeted campaigns and premium bundles.
2. Use Weekends for Acquisition.
   Since most weekend orders come from new shoppers, focus ad spend and social content on brand discovery and onboarding.
3. Add Flash Deals Friday Evening → Saturday Morning.
   Weekend orders dip, but short, time-sensitive offers can boost conversions when traffic is low.
4. Restock on Thursdays.
   With weekday turnover high and weekends still drawing new buyers, Thursday restocks ensure shelves stay full for weekend browsing.
5. Target Older Shoppers with Loyalty Offers.
   Slightly higher weekend participation among seniors (55 +) signals a receptive audience for personalized email campaigns.
6. Localize Marketing for Top States.
   Prioritize high-performing states — California, New York, Texas — for weekend-specific ads and inventory planning.
7. Introduce Measurable Discounts.
   Flat pricing limits analytical insight. Recording promo usage will help track campaign ROI and future uplift.

Why Terno AI Got It Right

What makes this analysis impressive isn’t just the findings — it’s the fact that every query ran cleanly, without special permissions or manual coding.

Each question, from “Do people shop more on weekends?” to “Which regions perform best?”  was processed directly through Terno AI’s conversational layer. The platform automatically generated the right SQL joins, created professional-grade Plotly visualizations, and summarized insights in plain English.

In short, Terno AI turned analytics into a conversation, not a codebase. See the full Terno analysis here @ https://sandra1.app.terno.ai/chat/share/5bf2c1b7-971d-46cd-a94e-5510619f394e

Smarter insights start with a demo, Book a demo to explore how Terno AI turns data into decisions.

Final Thoughts: The Future of Conversational Analytics

This case study demonstrates how accessible and powerful no-code analytics can be. With BigQuery’s rich, production-grade datasets and Terno AI’s natural-language interface, anyone  from business managers to marketing analysts  can uncover deep insights in minutes.

The takeaway is simple:

“Timing matters  and understanding your customers’ weekly rhythm is key to smarter decisions”.

Whether you’re planning promotions, managing inventory, or mapping growth, insights like these turn ordinary data into business strategy. So the next time someone asks “When do customers actually buy?”, you’ll have the answer and the visuals to prove it.

Ready to unlock insights from your data? Book a demo at Terno AI to get started.

Dataset Credit

All analysis is based on Google BigQuery’s public dataset – thelook_ecommerce, accessed directly via Terno AI’s BigQuery integration.