News: The difference between percent and percentile

News: The difference between percent and percentile

This is a frequent error in news reports:

In 2015, Frappuccinos were 14 percent of Starbucks revenue: Year-to-date, however, the drink’s sales are down 3 percent — and now account for only 11 percent of the company’s revenue.

Source: Starbucks has a ‘void in innovation’ and healthy beverages won’t turn the tide
3 percent of 14 percent is 0.4 percent, not 3 percent.
What should have been written is “sales are down 3 percentile points“. As dictionary.com says

Never leave a journalist alone in a room with a number.

Comments are closed.