Top Excel Formulas for Business in 2025

Published: December 1, 2025

These 10 formulas are saving Kenyan businesses thousands of hours every month. Master them and transform your spreadsheets from chaos to clarity.

1. XLOOKUP – Goodbye VLOOKUP!

=XLOOKUP(A2, Products!A:A, Products!C:C, "Not Found")

Finds product prices instantly — even from the left! Used by 90% of samXL users.

2. SUMIFS – Regional Sales in Seconds

=SUMIFS(Sales!D:D, Sales!B:B, "Nairobi", Sales!C:C, "2025")

Instantly sum Nairobi sales for 2025 — no filters needed.

3. UNIQUE – Auto Deduplication

=UNIQUE(Customers!A:A)

Removes duplicate customer names with one click — perfect for mail merges.

4. FILTER – Dynamic Reports

=FILTER(Sales!A:F, (Sales!D:D>100000) * (Sales!B:B="Mombasa"))

Show only high-value Mombasa sales — updates automatically!

5. SEQUENCE – Auto Invoice Numbers

="INV-"&SEQUENCE(100,1,1001,1)

Generates INV-1001 to INV-1100 instantly.

6. TEXTJOIN – Clean Address Labels

=TEXTJOIN(CHAR(10), TRUE, A2, B2, C2)

Combines name + phone + location into perfect WhatsApp-ready format.

7. LET – Faster Complex Formulas

=LET(x, SUMIFS(...), y, COUNTIFS(...), x/y)

Calculates average order value 10x faster.

8. BYROW – Apply to Each Row

=BYROW(Sales!D:D, LAMBDA(row, row*1.16))

Adds 16% VAT to every sale automatically.

9. CHOOSECOLS – Custom Reports

=CHOOSECOLS(Sales!A:J, 1,3,5,8)

Show only columns you want — no hiding needed.

10. LAMBDA – Your Own Custom Functions

=LAMBDA(x, x*0.85)(Price)

Create reusable "Apply 15% Discount" function.

Want all these formulas ready to use?

Download Free Excel Template Pack

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