Power BI Amazon Seller Central Setup Instructions
As an Amazon seller, it’s one thing to have access to the data; it’s another thing to make sense of it. That’s why many sellers want to transport their Amazon brand analytics to Power BI, which helps them visualize the data and gain actionable insights from it.
This guide will take you through how to set up Power BI dashboards with your Seller Central data. But first, we will touch on some basics.
What Is Power BI and Why Do Amazon Sellers Use It?
Microsoft Power BI is an interactive data visualization software solution that sellers use to take raw data and turn it into graphs and charts that are easier to digest. Basically, it makes the data collected more useful. So if you were to imagine Reason Automation's services as creating the roll of film by compiling the data, Power BI would be the projector that takes that roll of film and displays it.
Power BI is one of the most robust BI (business intelligence) tools on the market, and it is popular with business owners, including Amazon merchants who want to use it to create Amazon seller analytics or vendor central analytics reports. But figuring out how to set up a connection point between their Amazon data and Power BI can be challenging, so this guide will help you do that.
How to Set Up Brand Analytics API Power BI with Amazon Seller Central in 6 Steps
Below, we will walk you through setting up direct access to your data in Microsoft Power BI using Open Database Connectivity (ODBC). This process will help you connect your Amazon vendor API to Power BI (it works for both Amazon vendor analytics and Amazon seller analytics).
1. Determine whether you are using 32- or 64-bit Power BI
You need to make sure you have the compatible 32- or 64-bit software in the next step. If you’re unsure, click the File menu > Help > About.
2. Download and install the ODBC driver
ODBC lets you connect directly to your Reason Automation database, to pull data into Microsoft Office programs like Excel and Power BI. Use the links below to download the appropriate ODBC driver depending on if you use the 32- or 64-bit version of Excel.
3. Search for ODBC
ODBC does not automatically create desktop or startup shortcuts. After installing, find and open the ODBC Data Sources program by using the Windows search bar. A good idea is to create a shortcut or “pin” to the Start menu.
4. Connect ODBC to Reason Automation
Next, you will configure a connection to your Reason Automation database. First, add a new User Data Source Name (DSN) by clicking Add…
You will be prompted to select a driver from a list. Choose PostgreSQL Unicode, then click Finish.
In the next setup screen, fill out the following fields.
Data Source: [Whatever you want, e.g. "My Amazon Data"]
Database: [Your database]
Server: [Your server]
Port: [Your port - usually 5432 or 4527]
User Name: [Your database user name]
Password: [Your database password]
Your database user name and password were emailed to you during account setup. If you have lost your database user name or password, and need your credentials reset, please contact us.
Click Test to validate - you should see a “Connection successful” pop-up. Click Ok, then Save your connection details.
5. Connect ODBC to Power BI
Last you will connect ODBC to Power BI, allowing you to import your Amazon data directly into your instance.
Open Power BI, then select Get Data.
From the drop-down menu, choose the name of the data source you set up in step 4.
FOR SOME VERSIONS OF POWER BI: you may need to re-enter your database user name and password one final time.
6. Congratulations!
Once you have completed the above steps, you should have direct access to all of your Seller Central reports from within Power BI. Each report is stored as a table in your database, e.g. “inventory_all_listings". Select the table you want and either:
Click Load to import the entire report into Excel.
Click Transform to choose which columns, date ranges, and other views to import.