How To Use Amazon Vendor Central Data To Grow Your Ecommerce Business
If you've been a seller for Amazon for a long time and have only recently become a vendor, you may have noticed that the data available to you in Vendor Central is quite different.
There is certainly some overlap between Seller Central and Vendor Central, but if you're just getting up to speed in the latter, you may be wondering which metrics are the most important. This guide breaks down some of the most important data sets and provides some tips on how you can use them to grow your business.
Revenue
Revenue is the big data point for any business, and in Vendor Central this is broken down into multiple categories.
Shipped COGS
COGS stands for "cost of goods sold," and shipped COGS is your most vital metric for measuring revenue because it is all of the revenue Amazon pays to a vendor. This data point is simply the price paid to the vendor multiplied by the units ordered by the end customer. The report in Vendor Central shows the shipped COGS broken down by ASIN each day.
How to use this data point: Use this data point to understand how much Amazon is paying you on a daily basis. To monitor trends in your revenue, you should use this metric as opposed to other revenue metrics because it is the most straightforward data point on a vendor’s actual revenues.
Ordered/Shipped Revenue
If you want to understand your revenue in more depth, you can take a look at ordered revenue and shipped revenue.
Ordered revenue, broken down by ASIN, includes the average retail sales price of what the end consumer is buying and multiplying it by how many units are sold. However, this is Amazon's revenue, not yours. You get paid for the price you sold it to Amazon, not the price they eventually sell it for.
Shipped revenue is similar, except it refers specifically to items that have gone past merely being "ordered" and have actually been shipped from a fulfillment center, and are therefore on their way to the end customer.
How to use this data point: While this isn't the revenue you receive, it's helpful to know how much each product is earning Amazon in terms of revenue in order to adjust your own forecasts, pricing, and product development plans.
Net PPM
Net PPM, or net product profit margin, is how much margin Amazon expects to make on a product. So if you sell your product to Amazon for $10 and they are able to flip it for $15, that is a net PPM of 50%. The bigger the net PPM is, the more money Amazon makes by doing business with you.
How to use this data point: When you meet with Amazon each quarter to discuss terms, you can arm yourself with a strong net PPM to show that you deserve better terms. Often, Amazon will try to push you to increase profitability in a market category, but you can use net PPM to show that you're already performing well.
Inventory and Forecasting
Vendors should always monitor inventory and forecasting data, which enables them to have the optimal amount of product on hand at all times.
Inventory Health
Inventory health is a report in Vendor Central that allows you to see where all of your products are located throughout the fulfillment centers in Amazon's network. This gives a vendor an important understanding of what units Amazon has for each ASIN that are available for ordering.
How to use this data point: Management of inventory is critical for any vendor. This metric allows the vendor to keep an eye on inventory levels for their products and see how much of the inventory has been sitting in warehouses for more than 90 days.
Forecast: Ordered/Shipped Units
Amazon publishes forecast tables to help vendors understand how much of certain products they plan to buy in the near future, and therefore how much vendors should be prepared to supply them. These are broken down into reports for forecast: ordered units and forecast: shipped units.
Amazon has four forecasts it uses: mean, P-70, P-80, and P-90, with P standing for probability. For example, with P-90, Amazon is 90% sure customers will order at least that amount of product, whereas 70 is only 70% sure.
How to use this data point: Because Amazon likes to have a little extra stock on hand in case orders surge, they like to order at the P-70 level. As a result, this is the forecast vendors should watch the most, as it will tell you how much product you should have available when it comes time to fill orders.
Product Catalog
If you want a spreadsheet of all of your products that currently sell on Amazon, you can find it in the product catalog. This essential spreadsheet will list all of your products as well as several key attributes you can sort, like brand, title, color, prep instructions, and more.
How to use this data point: Understanding what products are being listed on Amazon, and how they’re being described, are vital for the basic management of your business. You can make vital changes to your product listings if you don’t know what they are and can’t easily access that information.
CoOp
CoOp metrics cover your co-op agreements with Amazon, which are operating costs that you share with Amazon. They are broken up into invoices and payments, and you can further break down the invoice metrics into distributor shipments, returns, cost variances, coupon clip fees, redemption fees, and so on.
How to use this data point: This data is useful because you can see exactly where the fees you pay to Amazon are going. This may affect your strategy, such as whether to continue to offer coupons to customers or deciding that the return on investment is not worth the price.
Geographic Sales
Geographic sales tables are split into two categories: geographic shipped COGS and geographic shipped revenue. These numbers are the same as the general shipped COGS and shipped revenue, but they are divided up based on zip code.
How to use this data point: For brands that sell on more than one platform, this is incredibly useful info that allows the vendor to zero in on certain geographic locations and therefore maximize the efficiency of their investment in product development and advertising.
Chargebacks and Defect Reports
If a vendor is not in compliance with the operational agreement, an Amazon will hit that vendor with chargeback fees. The defect report lists those chargebacks, which may fall into categories like labeling, packaging, and canceling purchase orders past a certain deadline.
How to use this data point: Chargebacks can hammer the bottom line of a vendor, so it's important for them to monitor this data to determine where chargebacks are coming from so the business can take action and prevent future fees.
Need More? Check Out Our Help Center
These aren't the only data points you'll have access to as a vendor -- they’re just some of the important ones that you'll monitor the most. For a complete breakdown of all of the other data points and what they mean, visit our Vendor Central Help Center.
How Do You Access, Download, and Analyze Vendor Central Data? You Have Options
If you struggle with downloading Vendor Central data, you’re not alone. However, there are options for helping you with collecting and analyzing this data. We’ve created a whitepaper guide that breaks down the various methods for accessing the data, and it’s available for a free download below.
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EXTRACTING YOUR VENDOR CENTRAL DATA:
COMPARING THE TOP 6 METHODS
As an Amazon vendor, you know that data can be the difference between thriving as a company and losing share to competitors. But Amazon data has plenty of quirks, and acquiring it can be an unexpected challenge. This guide will help you understand your options for accessing and managing Amazon Vendor Central data, and each option’s potential impact on your business.
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