Used for determining part of a number, e.g.: This year we've sold 4000 units, 40% of that was sold by John — 1600 units!
Commonly used when talking about an *increase* in some number, e.g.: Last year we've sold 1000 units, this year we had a 40% increase in sales, resulting in 1400 units sold!
Commonly used when talking about a *decrease* in some number (often used for describing discounts), e.g.: Last year we've sold 4000 units, this year we had a 20% decrease in sales, resulting in only 3200 units sold!