When it comes to success on Amazon, there’s one thing for sure: metrics matter.
In this article, we delve into the critical Amazon seller metrics you need to track for an efficient and profitable Amazon business.
Why is Understanding Amazon Seller Metrics Important?
Tracking key metrics gives you invaluable insights into various aspects of your business, from operations and sales to advertising and customer behavior. This knowledge empowers you to make strategic, data-driven decisions to optimize your business effectively.
Now, you don’t have to track every metric under the sun, but depending on your business goals, there’s a varied range to choose from. We’ve listed 36 potential metrics for you to get acquainted with:
Advertising Metrics
Click-through Rate (CTR)
Cost Per Click (CPC)
Conversion Rate (CVR)
Advertising Cost of Sales (ACoS)
Total Advertising Cost of Sales (TACoS)
Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS)
Traffic
Sales Metrics
Total Sales
Net Sales
Average Order Value (AOV)
Repeat Purchase Rate (RPR)
Buy Box Percentage
Market Share
Sales Growth
Inventory Metrics
Inventory Turnover Ratio
Inventory Performance Index (IPI)
FBA Storage Fees
Account Health Metrics
Order Defect Rate (ODR)
Late Shipment Rate (LSR)
Cancellation Rate
On-Time Delivery Rate
Invoice Defect Rate
Return Rate Metrics
Late Response Rate
Negative Return Feedback Rate
Customer Metrics
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
Customer Retention Rate (CRR)
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
Product Review Rating
Negative Feedback Rate
Advanced Business Indicators
Contribution Margin
EBITDA
Free Cash Flow Conversion Rate
Contribution Margin Adjusted MROI
Other Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Keyword Ranking
Amazon Fees
Best Seller Ranking
Top Five Metrics for Beginner Amazon Sellers
By no means should you be tracking all of these in-depth if you’re a beginner Amazon seller. We recommend focusing on the basics:
These five metrics will get you started and give you a good picture of how much you’re selling, how optimized your Amazon listing is, and if your inventory management is accurate.
Advertising Metrics
Advertising metrics are a crucial component of your Amazon business. They measure the effectiveness and efficiency of your PPC (pay-per-click) advertising campaigns, providing key insights that can help optimize your ad spend and strategy, and improve the visibility of your listings.
Click-through Rate (CTR)
- What it is: The percentage of people who click through to your Amazon listing after seeing the ad
- Why it’s important: It indicates how well your ad captures attention. A higher CTR generally suggests better ad relevance and targeting
- How to improve: Enhance your listing title and hero image, and target relevant keywords
- Where to find: You can view your click-through rate within your Amazon ad account
Cost Per Click (CPC)
- What it is: The average cost paid for each click on your Amazon ad
- Why it’s important: It helps you manage your ad campaign budget by understanding how much is being spent per interaction
- How to improve: Optimize ad targeting and bidding strategies to target specific keywords with a lower average CPC
- Where to find: Under the campaign performance metrics in your Amazon ad account
Conversion Rate (CVR)
- What it is: The percentage of clicks on your PPC ad that convert into purchases
- Why it’s important: Measures the effectiveness of your ad in driving sales, not just traffic
- How to improve: Optimize the key elements of your product listings including images, bullet points, and description
- Where to find: Located in the advertising report in Amazon Seller Central
Advertising Cost of Sales (ACoS)
- What it is: The ratio of ad spend to sales revenue from advertising, showing how much you spend on advertising per dollar of revenue generated.
- Why it’s important: Key to understanding the profitability of your ad campaigns and whether they’re cost-efficient
- How to improve: Focus on keywords with high conversion rates and adjust bids to optimize spending toward high-performing keywords
- Where to find: Found in the advertising section of Amazon Seller Central, where it shows the ratio of ad spend to the sales generated from those ads
Total Advertising Cost of Sales (TACoS)
- What it is: A measure of overall advertising spending relative to total sales revenue, whether from ads or not
- Why it’s important: Provides a broader view of how advertising affects profitability across total sales, including organic sales
- How to improve: Balance ad spending with organic sales growth strategies to maintain a healthy TACoS
- Where to find: You can easily calculate your own TACoS by dividing total advertising spend by total sales revenue (both organic and ad-driven)
Return on Advertising Spend (ROAS)
- What it is: The amount of revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising
- Why it’s important: Directly measures the effectiveness of advertising dollars in generating sales
- How to improve: Optimize ads for higher conversion rates and better target the audience to increase revenue from ad spend or use a more targeted ad strategy to reduce total ad spend
- How to find: Seen in the campaign management or advertising reports in Amazon Seller Central
Traffic
- What it is: The number of visitors to your Amazon product pages
- Why it’s important: Higher traffic increases the potential for more conversions and sales but high traffic coupled with a low conversion rate indicates potential issues in your product listings
- How to improve: Optimize product listings for SEO and for conversion, ensure your hero image stands out in the search results, and optimize your PPC campaigns
- Where to find: Traffic data can be found in the Business Reports section of Amazon Seller Central under the Detail Page Sales and Traffic report
Sales Metrics
Sales metrics are a vital tool for tracking the performance and health of your Amazon business. Monitoring product popularity and market demand, judging pricing effectiveness, managing inventory, and identifying promotional opportunities: your sales metrics are at the core of your business goals and strategy.
Total Sales
- What it is: The total revenue generated from all sales activities on Amazon
- Why it’s important: Indicates the overall success and growth of your Amazon business
- How to improve: Identify opportunities to expand product lines, optimize pricing strategies, and enhance marketing efforts
- Where to find: Available in the Business Reports section of Amazon Seller Central
Net Sales
- What it is: Revenue after deductions for returns, allowances, and discounts
- Why it’s important: Provides a clearer picture of actual revenue generated
- How to improve: Put measures in place to reduce return rates, manage discounts strategically, and maintain high product quality
- Where to find: Found in the sales summary or detailed sales reports in Amazon Seller Central
Average Order Value (AOV)
- What it is: The average amount spent per transaction per customer
- Why it’s important: Higher AOV can lead to increased revenue without a proportional increase in transaction costs
- How to improve: Implement up-selling and cross-selling strategies, and offer bundled products
- Where to find: Calculate by dividing total revenue by the number of orders, typically found in sales reports in Seller Central
Repeat Purchase Rate (RPR)
- What it is: The percentage of customers who have purchased from you more than once
- Why it’s important: Indicates customer loyalty and satisfaction with your products
- How to improve: Improve customer service, offer loyalty discounts, and regularly update your product offerings
- Where to find: In Seller Central, navigate to the Brands tab, select Brand Analytics, and select Repeat Purchases.
Buy Box Percentage
- What it is: The percentage of page views in which you are the Featured Offer, divided by total page views
- Why it’s important: Winning the Buy Box significantly increases the likelihood of sales
- How to improve: Maintain competitive pricing, high seller performance metrics, and adequate stock levels
- Where to find: Located in the Business Reports section of Amazon Seller Central under the Detail Page Sales and Traffic by Child Item report.
Market Share
- What it is: The percentage of total sales in your category that your products represent
- Why it’s important: Indicates your competitive position within the market and gives you insight into your competitors’ positions
- How to improve: Expand product offerings, enhance marketing strategies, and focus on customer retention
- Where to find: You won’t find this metric in Amazon Seller Central, but third-party tools like Helium10 offer market trackers that estimate the number of competitors for given keywords, your market share, and potential revenue
Sales Growth
- What it is: The increase in sales over a given period
- Why it’s important: Indicates the overall growth and expansion of your business
- How to improve: Hone in your strategy for retaining existing customers or attracting new ones. Ways to do this include diversifying your product range, expanding to new markets (for example using the Amazon NARF program), and enhancing your marketing efforts
- Where to find: Analyze changes in total sales over time using the sales reports in Amazon Seller Central
Inventory Metrics
Stockouts result in lost sales and overstocking results in avoidable storage fees, both of which affect your profitability and business cash flow. The way to ensure that you meet customer demand without running into inventory issues? A strategic inventory management strategy and monitoring of your key performance metrics.
Inventory Turnover Ratio
- What it is: The frequency at which inventory is sold and replaced over a given period i.e. the rate at which inventory is moving through your business. A high turnover rate means more sales
- Why it’s important: Indicates the efficiency of inventory management and product demand, as well as helping you more accurately manage inventory orders
- How to improve: Adjust purchasing strategies based on sales data to better match customer demand and avoid over- or under-stocking
- Where to find: It’s easily calculated by dividing the number of units sold over a specific time period by the average inventory level during that same period
Inventory Performance Index (IPI)
- What it is: A measure of how efficiently Amazon sellers manage their FBA inventory. Amazon doesn’t disclose exactly how the IPI score is calculated, but it does take into account your excess inventory percentage, sell-through rate, stranded inventory percentage, and in-stock rate
- Why it’s important: It directly influences your ability to use Amazon’s FBA storage centers and can affect your storage costs
- How to improve: Optimize stock levels, reduce excess and stranded inventory, and improve sell-through rates by closely monitoring the four key factors that affect your IPI score
- Where to find: Found on the Inventory Dashboard within Amazon Seller Central.
Find out more about Amazon IPI scores and the core factors that influence your FBA storage in our blog on how to boost your IPI score.
FBA Storage Fees
- What it is: While not a metric per say, your FBA storage fees are the fees charged by Amazon for storing your products in their fulfillment centers
- Why it’s important: Directly impacts profitability, especially for slow-moving products that incur long-term storage fees
- How to improve: Regularly review inventory performance and remove slow-selling or unprofitable items to reduce costs
- How to find: Detailed in the monthly storage fees report in Amazon Seller Central
Account Health Metrics
Account health metrics are critical for maintaining good standing on Amazon and avoiding penalties. They reflect your compliance with Amazon’s performance standards and are a key indicator of your business’s overall health on the platform.
Account Health Rating
- What it is: A rating between 0-1000 based on various metrics that measure customer service performance, policy compliance, and shipping performance that gives an overall view of your Amazon account health
- Why it’s important: Regular monitoring of this metric can help prevent account suspension if any Amazon policy violations occur on your account.
- How to improve: This metric covers such a broad spectrum that there are plenty of opportunities to improve it including proper inventory management, better customer service, and ensuring on-time delivery
- Where to find: The account health rating and all of the metrics that contribute to it can be found in the Account Health dashboard inside Seller Central
For a full breakdown of the Amazon Account Health Rating, read our guide to avoid suspension and thrive.
Order Defect Rate (ODR)
- What it is: The percentage of orders that have received negative feedback, an A-to-Z claim, or a credit card chargeback
- Why it’s important: It’s a key metric that Amazon uses to assess the quality of your customer service
- How to improve: Enhance product quality, provide accurate product descriptions, and offer swift and effective customer service if an issue does arise
- Where to find: Located in Performance Metrics within Amazon Seller Central under Account Health
Late Shipment Rate (LSR)
- What it is: The percentage of orders shipped later than the expected ship date
- Why it’s important: This is crucial for any FBM (fulfilled by merchant) products as it impacts customer satisfaction and your ability to win the Buy Box
- How to improve: Optimize your fulfillment processes and consider using Fulfilled by Amazon (FBA) if fulfillment timeliness are an issue
- Where to find: Found in the Shipping Performance metrics in Amazon Seller Central
Cancellation Rate
- What it is: The percentage of orders canceled by the seller before shipping
- Why it’s important: High cancellation rates can lead to penalties or suspension from Amazon
- How to improve: Improve inventory accuracy and order management processes to reduce the need for cancellations
- How to find: Available in Amazon Seller Central under Account Health
On-Time Delivery Rate
- What it is: The percentage of orders delivered by the promised date
- Why it’s important: Applicable to FMB orders only, it directly affects customer satisfaction and trust in your brand
- How to improve: Use reliable shipping services and closely monitor fulfillment processes to ensure timely delivery
- Where to find: Available in Amazon Seller Central under Account Health
Invoice Defect Rate
- What it is: It measures the percentage of Amazon Business orders without the tax invoice uploaded within one business day of shipping
- Why it’s important: Important for maintaining customer satisfaction, especially among business customers who require accurate invoices for accounting purposes
- How to improve: The goal is to maintain an overall ODR of less than 1% in a 60-day period so ensure you have systems in place to issue invoices to all Amazon Business customers
- Where to find: Available in Amazon Seller Central under Account Health
Return Rate Metrics
Return rate metrics are essential for understanding why customers are returning products and how it impacts your business. By listening to these metrics, you can pinpoint and address misleading product listing information, and issues with product quality, customer service, or delivery.
Late Response Rate
- What it is: Measures the timeliness of your response to return requests or customer inquiries
- Why it’s important: Affects customer satisfaction and can influence their decision to return in the future
- How to improve: Amazon requests that all customer enquiries are responded to within 48 hours so ensure timely responses by setting up alerts for customer communications and prioritizing customer service
Negative Return Feedback Rate
- What it is: The percentage of return requests that result in negative feedback from customers
- Why it’s important: Negative ratings and feedback have a huge impact on your business. They can deter other customers from choosing your products and highlight underlying issues across your operations
- How to improve: Address the underlying issues causing returns, such as product quality or misleading descriptions, and improve the returns process
Customer Metrics
Is your goal to acquire more new customers or keep loyal ones? Customer acquisition and retention are the metrics that provide insights into customer behavior, preferences, and satisfaction levels, which are crucial for tailoring your offerings and marketing strategies.
Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)
- What it is: The cost of acquiring a new customer
- Why it’s important: Helps determine the profitability of marketing efforts. If your CAC is higher than the customer’s lifetime value then that is a huge problem
- How to improve: Optimize PPC campaigns and other marketing strategies to focus on the highest-value channels
- Where to find: Typically calculated by dividing total marketing and sales expenses by the number of new customers
Customer Retention Rate (CRR)
- What it is: The percentage of customers who continue to purchase from you over a given period. It is essentially: ((total number of customers – new customers) / initial customers) x 100
- Why it’s important: Indicates customer loyalty and the effectiveness of retention strategies
- How to improve: Implement loyalty programs and provide excellent customer service to incentivize your customers to purchase again
- Where to find: This rate won’t be found in Seller Central but can be calculated using the raw data you’ll find inside your account
Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)
- What it is: The total average revenue generated from a single customer
- Why it’s important: It helps you understand the long-term value of customers and the amount of resources you can allocate to customer acquisition. For example, if your average CLV is low then focusing on incentives to drive repeat purchases may be the best use of your marketing resources to boost CLV
- How to improve: Enhance customer satisfaction, increase engagement, and develop upselling and cross-selling strategies
- Where to find: This rate won’t be found in Seller Central and can be complex to calculate, but it is worth the effort to gain insight into your customer base
Product Review Rating
- What it is: Your average product rating
- Why it’s important: It not only impacts product visibility on Amazon as the platform is more likely to push products in the search results that have higher ratings, it also influences potential buyers’ purchasing decisions as ratings are shown on your listings
- How to improve: Ensure your listings accurately reflect the quality and features of your product, provide excellent customer service, and encourage satisfied customers to leave positive reviews
- Where to find: Available in the Reviews section of Amazon Seller Central
Negative Feedback Rate
- What it is: The percentage of orders that receive negative feedback
- Why it’s important: Affects your seller reputation and can impact sales negatively
- How to improve: Address customer issues promptly, request feedback removal when appropriate, and improve product and service quality based on the feedback you’ve received in negative reviews
- How to find: Located in the Feedback section of Amazon Seller Central
Advanced Business Indicators
Advanced business indicators provide deeper insights into the financial and operational health of your business on Amazon. These metrics are used for strategic planning and decision-making, helping you identify underlying trends, issues, and opportunities at a more advanced level.
Contribution Margin
- What it is: The selling price per unit minus the variable cost per unit. It represents the portion of revenue that ‘contributes’ to fixed costs, and therefore, allows you to calculate the amount left per unit after covering fixed costs
- Why it’s important: Helps determine the profitability of individual products by calculating how much each sale contributes to your profit after you’ve reached breakeven. The higher your contribution margin, the more profitable your product
- How to improve: Optimize production processes to reduce variable costs or increase your prices
- Where to find: You’ll need to calculate this one manually by subtracting variable costs from sales revenue
EBITDA
- What it is: Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization
- Why it’s important: Provides insight into your cash flow and how well you’re managing day-to-day operations
- How to improve: The key is to minimize spending and maximize revenue to improve your profitability e.g. increasing prices or reducing discounts, better inventory management, review other costs like shipping and insurance
- Where to find: This is a manual calculation done by taking total revenue and subtracting expenses, interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization
Free Cash Flow Conversion Rate
- What it is: The ratio of free cash flow to EBITDA, indicating how much profit turns into cash in the bank
- Why it’s important: Shows the efficiency of converting earnings into usable cash, which is vital for reinvesting in growth, inventory, and more advanced marketing strategies
- How to improve: Manage capital expenditures and operating costs more efficiently to maximize cash generation
- Where to find: You’ll need to calculate this one yourself by dividing free cash flow by EBITDA
Contribution Margin Adjusted MROI
- What it is: The marketing return on investment adjusted for the contribution margin
- Why it’s important: Helps assess the profitability of marketing campaigns
- How to improve: Focus on high-ROI marketing channels and tactics, and regularly review the performance of marketing campaigns to adjust strategies accordingly
- Where to find: Calculate this by dividing the contribution margin by the marketing spend
Other Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Other Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) provide insights into various aspects of your Amazon business beyond the core business metrics. They help in understanding product visibility, operational efficiency, and cost management, all of which are crucial pieces in your business strategy.
Keyword Ranking
- What it is: This measures where your product is ranking in the Amazon search results for your target keywords
- Why it’s important: Higher keyword rankings increase visibility and likelihood of sales as well as allowing you to optimize your PPC spend
- How to improve: Optimize product listings with relevant keywords, encourage positive customer reviews, and don’t scrape by with a hero image that’s “good enough” – aim for the best
- Where to find: Amazon does not provide a direct report for keyword rankings in Seller Central so use tools like Jungle Scout that automatically monitor changes in your keyword rankings
Amazon Fees
- What it is: Includes various costs associated with selling on Amazon, such as referral fees, fulfillment fees, and storage fees
- Why it’s important: Your Amazon fees have a huge impact on your profitability and the continued viability of your business
- How to improve: While you have no control over your Amazon fees, you can monitor and understand them to improve how you respond to any changes
- Where to find: They’re detailed in the Fee Reports and Monthly Statements in Seller Central
Best Seller Ranking
- What it is: A ranking system that shows how well a product is selling within its category on Amazon
- Why it’s important: A high best seller ranking can attract more customers and increase sales as prospective customers perceive your product as more popular and higher quality
- How to improve: Increase sales volume through effective marketing and promotions, maintain high product availability, and gather positive customer feedback
- Where to find: Your BSR is updated hourly on your product detail page and reflects sales performance relative to other products in the same category
Find out more in our blog, Amazon Seller Badges: The Secret Weapons for Seller Success.
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