10 VF Corporation SQL Interview Questions (Updated 2024)

At VF Corporation, SQL is used daily for analyzing consumer behavior trends iand for managing inventories across their multiple global retail brands. So, it shouldn't surprise you that VF Corporation typically asks SQL coding questions in interviews for Data Science and Data Engineering positions.

Thus, to help you study, here’s 10 VF Corporation SQL interview questions – able to solve them?

10 VF Corporation SQL Interview Questions

SQL Question 1: Analyze Sales Data

For VF Corporation, a global apparel and footwear company, sales data analysis is crucial. So, you are asked to analyze the sales data for its products in different regions.

There are two tables, and . The table has these columns: (the unique identifier for a sale), (the id of the product sold), (the region where the sale happened), (the quantity of product sold), and (The date of the sale). The table has these columns: , and .

Your task is to write a SQL query that computes the running total quantity of each product sold in each region, for every row in the table. Order the results by and .

Example Input

Example Input

Answer:

To do this, we'll use the window function over a window partitioned by and and ordered by :

This query returns a table with the sales id, product id, product name, region, quantity sold, and a new column , which contains the running total quantity sold of each product in each region, in the order of the sales dates.

To solve a similar window function question on DataLemur's free online SQL code editor, try this Google SQL Interview Question:

pssst also check out VF Corporations fourth quarter revenue from FY 24!

SQL Question 2: Department Salaries

Suppose you had a table of VF Corporation employee salary data, along with which department they were in. Write a query to compare the average salary of employees in each department to the company's average salary for March 2024. Return the comparison result as 'higher', 'lower', or 'same' for each department. Display the department ID, payment month (in MM-YYYY format), and the comparison.

Write a SQL query for this problem directly within the browser on DataLemur:

The answer is LONG – 30+ lines of SQL. You can find a step-by-step solution with hints here: Department vs. Company Salary.

SQL Question 3: What are the different types of database indexes?

A database index is a way to optimize the performance of a database by reducing the amount of data that needs to be searched to retrieve a record.

There are several types of indexes that can be used in a database:

1. Primary index: a unique identifier is used to access the row directly.
2. Unique index: used to enforce the uniqueness of the indexed columns in a table.
3. Composite index: created on multiple columns of a table, is used to speed up the search process for multiple columns
4. Clustered index: determines the physical order of the data in a table

For a concrete example, say you had a table of VF Corporation customer payments with the following columns: payment_id, customer_id, payment_amount, and payment_date.

Here's what a clustered index on the column would look like:

A clustered index on the column would determine the physical order of the records in the table based on the . This means that the records with the earliest values would be stored together physically in the table, followed by records with later payment_date values.

Having a clustered index on the column can speed up queries that filter or sort the data based on the payment_date, as the records are already physically sorted in the table. For example, if you want to retrieve all the payments made in the month of January, the database can use the clustered index to quickly locate and retrieve the desired records without having to search through the entire table.

SQL Question 4: Database Design and Querying for VF Corporation's Product Inventory and Sales

VF Corporation is a global leader in branded lifestyle apparel, footwear, and accessories, with global iconic brands like Vans, The North Face, and Timberland. They want to build a database system for better tracking of their product inventory across different stores and correlating it with their sales data.

Your task is to design the database tables and write a SQL query to find out which products have sold more than 50 units in the past month but have less than 100 units in stock across the stores.

Note that a can be available in multiple and each can keep multiple .

Example Input:

Example Input:

Example Input:

Example Input:

Answer:

In the given SQL query, we first join all three tables using the respective product_id. We apply a condition on sale_date to consider only last month's sales. Then, we group the data by product_name and calculate total stock and total units sold for each product. The HAVING clause is used to filter out the products that have sold more than 50 units in the past month but have less than 100 units in stock. These are the products VF Corporation might want to restock soon considering their sales volume.

SQL Question 5: How do you identify records in one table that aren't in another?

To identify records in one table that do not appear in another, you can use a LEFT JOIN and examine NULL values in the right-side table.

Say for example you had exported VF Corporation's CRM (Customer Relationship Management) database into PostgreSQL, and had a table of sales leads, and a second table of companies.

Here's an example of how a query could find all sales leads that are not associated with a company:

This query brings back all rows from the sales leads table, along with any matching rows from the companies table. If there is no matching row in the companies table, NULL values will be returned for all of the right table's columns.

We then filter out out any rows where the column is , leaving only the sales leads that are NOT associated with a company.

SQL Question 6: Average Inventory Sales per Month for a Certain Product

At VF Corporation, a global apparel and footwear company owning brands such as Vans, The North Face and Timberland, they need to keep track of their sales performances. As a Data Analyst, you have been asked to find the average number of units sold per month for a certain product in a specified year.

Example Input:

Example Output:

Answer:

This SQL statement groups sales by month and product_id for the year 2022 and calculates the average unit sold per product per month. It filters the sales records based on the provided product_id's and year. It sorts the result by product_id and month in ascending order. The EXTRACT function is used here to get the month and year from the sell_date.

To practice a very similar question try this interactive Wayfair Y-on-Y Growth Rate Question which is similar for calculating sales metrics over time, or this Amazon Average Review Ratings Question which is similar for average monthly metrics analysis.

SQL Question 7: What is the purpose of the SQL constraint ?

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A UNIQUE constraint ensures that all values in a column are different. It is often used in conjunction with other constraints, such as NOT NULL, to ensure that the data meets certain conditions.

For example, if you had VF Corporation sales leads data stored in a database, here's some constraints you'd use:

In this example, the UNIQUE constraint is applied to the "email" and "phone" fields to ensure that each VF Corporation lead has a unique email address and phone number. This helps to ensure the integrity of the data in the database and prevents errors that could occur if two leads had the same email address or phone number.

SQL Question 8: Calculate Click-through Conversion Rates for VF Corporation Ads

VF Corporation would like to optimize their digital marketing efforts. Given data about their digital ads and user behaviors, VF Corporation would like to find out the Click-through conversion rate, specifically calculated as the ratio of 'add_to_cart' event to 'view_product' event, for each of their product in June 2022.

Example Input:

Example Output:

Answer:

Click-through conversion rate is calculated by dividing the total amount of 'add_to_cart' events by the amount of 'view_product' events for each product in the specified time period. This would give VF Corporation the data they need to analyze the effectiveness of their ads.

To solve another question about calculating rates, try this TikTok SQL Interview Question on DataLemur's interactive coding environment:

SQL Question 9: Calculate the highest selling product for each brand in VF Corporation

VF Corporation is a global leader in branded lifestyle apparel, footwear and accessories. The organization operates with several well-known brands. Our enterprise database maintains records for each brand and the products sold under them.

Write an SQL query to find the highest selling product in terms of quantity sold, for each brand in the VF Corporation in year 2020.

Example Input:

Example Input:

Example Input:

Answer:

This query first joins the brands, products and sales tables based on the brand_id and product_id. Then, it filters the results to include only the sales from the year 2020. After that, it groups the results by brand name and product name, and for each group, it calculates the maximum quantity sold. This allows us to find out the highest selling product for each brand in the VF Corporation in 2020.

SQL Question 10: Could you explain the differences between an inner and full outer join?

A full outer join returns all rows from both tables, including any unmatched rows, whereas an inner join only returns rows that match the join condition between the two tables.

For a tangible example, suppose you had a table of VF Corporation orders and VF Corporation customers.

Here's a SQL inner join using the orders and customers tables:

This query will return rows from the orders and customers tables that have matching values. Only rows with matching values will be included in the results.

Here is an example of a using the orders and customers tables:

This query will return all rows from both the orders and customers tables, including any rows that do not have matching values. Any rows with null values for either table will be included in the results.

Preparing For The VF Corporation SQL Interview

The key to acing a VF Corporation SQL interview is to practice, practice, and then practice some more! Besides solving the earlier VF Corporation SQL interview questions, you should also solve the 200+ tricky sql questions on DataLemur which come from companies like Google, Microsoft and Silicon Valley startups.

Each interview question has multiple hints, fully explained answers along with a discussion board to see how others solved it and crucially, there's an online SQL coding environment so you can right in the browser run your SQL query and have it graded.

To prep for the VF Corporation SQL interview you can also be helpful to solve interview questions from other apparel companies like:

• Cintas SQL questions

• PVH Corp SQL questions

• Skechers SQL questions

• Hanes SQL questions

But if your SQL skills are weak, don't worry about jumping right into solving questions – improve your SQL foundations with this free SQL for Data Analytics course.

This tutorial covers topics including filtering data with boolean operators and UNION vs. joins – both of these pop up routinely in VF Corporation SQL interviews.

VF Corporation Data Science Interview Tips

What Do VF Corporation Data Science Interviews Cover?

Beyond writing SQL queries, the other types of problems to practice for the VF Corporation Data Science Interview include:

• Probability & Statistics Questions
• Python or R Programming Questions
• Product-Sense and Business Case Questions
• ML Interview Questions
• Resume-Based Behavioral Questions

How To Prepare for VF Corporation Data Science Interviews?

To prepare for VF Corporation Data Science interviews read the book Ace the Data Science Interview because it's got:

• 201 interview questions taken from FAANG, tech startups, and Wall Street
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