Top 5 Amazon Data Sets Vendors Must Monitor
For companies that sell with Amazon, not all data is created equal.
First-party vendors and third-party sellers have access to different reports and data sets from Amazon. Vendor data provides a more limited picture of the sales transaction. Once you’ve shipped your containers of goods to Amazon, they become Amazon’s property to do what they want with. You can give them instructions on how to prepare and ship items, but beyond that Amazon is going to do what they want -- and they'll collect all the data that comes from those operations.
As a result, all of the data you receive is essentially second-hand, and you're attempting to read customer desires through Amazon's actions. This means there are certain Amazon data sets you need to pay close attention to -- and five in particular stand out.
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. Sales & Traffic
What is this data? Perhaps the most important data are general sales and traffic reporting data sets, such as shipped COGS (cost of goods sold) and ordered revenue. You need some kind of sales reporting to know how many units you sold in a time period.
Why is it important? It is vital that any vendor have a complete picture of their sales and general traffic pipeline. These fundamental statistics will help you predict future revenue and spot potential problems.
For example, if sales suddenly take a dip month over month, you can investigate why that is to determine if it is something unavoidable like a seasonal change in orders, or if demand for a product line is flagging across the board. Also, if you notice an increase in traffic data to one of your product pages, this could be a sign of growing interest in a product and it might be useful to spend more time promoting this product.
Where is this data located? Reports > Retail Analytics > Sales and Reports > Retail Analytics > Traffic
2. Inventory
What is this data? A vendor must understand not just how much inventory is currently in Amazon's network, but also what has been ordered, what open purchase orders there are, and how much demand that represents. Inventory reports provide all of this information.
Why is it important? Vendors need to know where inventory is located -- in other words, is it in a container on its way to Amazon, or has it been unloaded and is awaiting being sorted and put into the system? Seeing all of this data gives a vendor a thorough understanding of the current demand for this product and how much they need to produce.
Where is this data located? Reports > Retail Analytics > Inventory
3. Forecasting
What is this data? There's a point of tension between vendors and Amazon: the vendors would like Amazon to place big orders far in advance so they can easily predict future orders and adjust accordingly, but Amazon wants to order as little as possible and use just-in-time methodology to maximize their efficiency and lower their costs.
However, Amazon recognizes that this puts a strain on vendors who need to make predictions, so they provide forecasting reports. This is Amazon's forecast of what they plan to order in the coming few weeks. The company assigns a P value or confidence level that this prediction will come to pass (i.e., P-90 indicates a 90% likelihood in Amazon's estimation).
Why is it important? Amazon’s forecasting data helps vendors understand how much product they should be supplying to Amazon. Because Amazon typically purchases at the P-70 level, vendors should monitor that metric closely. It’s important to provide the right amount of product to Amazon as a vendor -- if it’s too little, you miss an opportunity to maximize revenue, but if it’s too much you might get hit with miscellaneous charges as Amazon stores your excess product.
Where is this data located? Reports > Retail Analytics > Forecasting
4. Financial Management Data
What is this data? These are all of the payments and invoice reporting tables. This data includes all of the invoices that Amazon sends to the vendor. This data typically is tough to access for vendors, however, because this represents a large group of documents with a lot of different data that don't marry well within these reports.
For example, sometimes you place an order for something and Amazon is owed a percentage of the total value of that order, and you get invoiced for that. But sometimes, if you run a deal on Amazon and want to offer a 20% discount on one day, Amazon will invoice you in an entirely different fashion for that.
Why is it important? It's important for vendors to have this data because it helps them identify opportunities to improve your terms with Amazon or even just conduct an audit to spot money owed to you. But it's not easy to aggregate, which is why we provide the service that we do.
Generally, the financial side has three main aspects:
Invoices for products sold to Amazon
Payments
Payment co-op
The term "payment co-op" refers to the funds Amazon deducts before they pay a brand, and accrual agreements govern this category. These agreements deal with things like damage allowances, deductions if there are returns, marketing, and other factors.
This financial data is critical to understanding your company's entire balance sheet, beyond simply immediate cash revenue and payments. For example, sometimes you make a straight payment to Amazon to devote a vendor services professional to your account, and sometimes you have marketing payments based on sales activity like coupons. All of this is vital to understanding your company's financial situation.
Where is this data located? Reports > Payments (learn more in our Financial Reports User Manual)
5. Operational Data
What is this data? This is a general catch-all term that applies to data that help vendors manage orders to and from Amazon. Operational data provide insights on the performance of your supply chain and any inefficiencies or opportunities there. This includes shipment reports, defect reports, and purchase order reports.
Why is it important? Amazon has stringent rules around the timing of confirming purchase orders (POs). The vendor needs to track this information to ensure performance is up to par . If fill rates are too low, that is a lost opportunity for vendors in terms of sales.
Amazon is also very strict about shipping, placing a big emphasis on getting products out the door and to the customer as quickly as possible. As a result, vendors need to measure their shipping performance to avoid chargebacks, which is when Amazon charges you for not being in compliance with their rules. The data will also help a brand determine how to optimize their supply chain.
Defect reports are also important for a vendor to understand. Some examples of defective products, in Amazon's estimation, include:
A mislabeled package
A package that is not "consumer-ready" because of insufficient packaging
Late shipments
A PO that wasn't confirmed by the brand
If Amazon identifies a "defect," the vendor will get a chargeback, so the brand must track these to identify leading reasons for chargebacks and make adjustments.
Where is this data located? Reports > Operational Performance and Reports > Shipments and Reports > Orders
How Amazon Data as a Service Can Help Vendors
These reports are packed with good information that businesses need, but they are only snapshots of data. To get actionable intelligence for your business, you need a detailed report that can span weeks or months and cover a variety of ASINs. However, Amazon doesn’t offer this – you will need to hire an Amazon data-as-a-service (DaaS) company to do this for you.
To help vendors figure out what kind of service they need, we’ve created a whitepaper that breaks down the top methods of compiling and analyzing this data for Amazon vendors and sellers. It is available for free download below.
READ MORE:
Turn Amazon Data into a strategic Asset
The breadth of Amazon sales, marketing, and supply chain data lets brands find patterns and insights to optimize their Amazon business and other e-commerce channels. But only if you have a plan for extracting the data from Amazon systems, storing it, and preparing it for analysis.
This guide will help you take ownership of your Amazon data—by preparing your business for a data-driven future, and analyzing the most common methods for extraction, automation, storage, and management.
