4 Amazon Vendor Metrics Ecommerce Companies Should Monitor Closely
Every ecommerce company understands that Amazon vendor sales analytics are critical to maintaining a healthy and growing company, but it’s not always easy to decipher Amazon’s reports. Which Amazon metrics are important? How do you monitor them? What conclusions can you gain from them?
So we’ve put together this handy guide of some of the top Amazon vendor metrics you should be monitoring on a regular basis, as well as what kind of basic insights they can provide.
Important: In mid-2022, the location of many of these metrics changed within Vendor Central. To learn more, read about Amazon’s Retail Analytics relaunch in our Vendor Central Help Center. Their new paths have been updated below.
1. Shipped COGS
Shipped COGS is your brand's actual revenue, so this is one of the most important Amazon sales metrics to track. COGS stands for cost of goods sold, and this metric is broken down by ASIN number. Amazon calculates this metric by taking the price paid to the vendor for products and then multiplying it by the number of units ordered..
Why this metric is important: It’s the most fundamental metric for tracking revenue for a product. You should care about this Amazon metric because it is Amazon's cost of goods sold, not the vendor's, and therefore this is a good measurement of the true revenue a product generates.
Where to find this metric in Amazon Vendor Central: Reports > Retail Analytics > Sales
Tip for using this metric: You should review it on a regular basis and compare it to relevant periods in order to get an up-to-date picture of your sales situation. While there are other Amazon metrics that deal with sales, this is the most reliable one for understanding your revenue.
To learn more, read about Retail Analytics Sales in our Vendor Central Help Center.
2. Inventory Health
Inventory health tells vendors where products are stored in Amazon fulfillment centers. It tells vendors how much product they have on hand and where it is so they can make adjustments.
Why this metric is important: Vendors must keep track of inventory to run their business, making this arguably the next most important Amazon vendor metric after Shipped COGS. The Inventory Health report helps vendors understand where all of their products are, so they can make any necessary improvements in their inventory management, saving on costs and keeping customers happy at the same time. It also keeps vendors in Amazon’s good graces by giving them the Amazon metrics they need to make sure they have enough products available to meet demand.
Where to find this metric in Amazon Vendor Central: Reports > Retail Analytics > Inventory
Tip for using this metric: The report can be sorted by both sellable status and age, which will help you understand how many sellable units of each ASIN are available.
To learn more, read about Retail Analytics Inventory in our Vendor Central Help Center.
3. Procurable Product OOS
Another sub-metric within Inventory Health, the procurable product out-of-stock rate (formerly Rep OOS) tells vendors how often they are running out of a product.
Why this metric is important: This Amazon metric is a big deal for a vendor, because products that frequently go out of stock are penalized by Amazon, particularly when it comes to the Buy Box. At a basic level, it means a vendor’s products aren’t available when the customer is ready to buy, which costs the vendor revenue. By keeping tabs on out-of-stock rates, vendors can identify products that are frequently out of stock and make necessary adjustments.
Where to find this metric in Amazon Vendor Central: Reports > Retail Analytics > Inventory
Tip for using this metric: Vendors should constantly monitor their procurable product OOS for each ASIN in order to spot problems early before they cost the company a lot of revenue. By staying on top of this Amazon metric, a vendor can do a better job of maintaining optimal inventory levels.
To learn more, read about Retail Analytics Inventory in our Vendor Central Help Center.
4. Traffic
Traffic metrics describe the traffic that is coming to your product pages and listings, and how many of those visitors are converting into customers.
Why this metric is important: As an Amazon vendor, you want to know how often people are visiting your product page, how much time they're spending on that page, and so on. This helps you assess the quality of your products and the performance of ad campaigns and promotions.
Where to find this metric in Amazon Vendor Central: Reports > Retail Analytics > Traffic
Tip for using this metric: Use the Traffic report to do things like determine how many unique visitors you have, how many page sessions there were, how many glance views you're getting, and so on. Using this data, you’ll be able to calculate your conversion rate for each product.
To learn more, read about Retail Analytics Traffic in our Vendor Central Help Center.
There Are Ways to Track Your Data Better
Monitoring this data is easier said than done. While Amazon technically provides it through your Amazon vendor sales dashboard on Vendor Central, you have to manually download these reports and combine them in order to get actionable data.
Fortunately, there are third-party services that do this, but figuring out which one is right for you isn't always straightforward. We have put together a whitepaper for vendors that will help you figure it out. It's available for free download below.
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