Introducing Business Intelligence
Seelk Studio's Business Intelligence (BI) Dashboard empowers users with actionable insights on their sales. For account executives and manager the BI is the epicenter of Seelk Studio, providing users with up-to-date sales metrics across multiple marketplaces and custom groups of ASINs.
The main added-value of the BI is that it calculates contribution of growth for all marketplaces, custom groups and individual products. This provides users with better insight regarding which groups of ASINs most impacted their sales velocity through the comparison of two periods and/or analysing year over year. These qualified insights mean they can take action where it matters most.
Understanding Sales Metrics
The first main control of the BI is the ability to change metrics. We made a conscious decision to allow users to compare a single metric a time (however - we plan on rolling out a new interface for comparing and contrasting multiple metrics in data tables and graphs).
In the BI Dashboard you can switch between metrics by selecting the dropdown at the top of the interface.
The following metrics are available for Amazon Vendor:
Sell-In Units
Sell-in Sales
Sell-Out Units (Sourcing)
PCoGS (Sourcing) [Price Amazon pays to vendor for procurement]
Sell-Out Units (Manufacturing)
PCoGS (Manufacturing) [Price Amazon pays to all vendor across Amazon for procurement]
The following metrics are available for Amazon Seller:
Units
Sales
Shipping Costs
Total Sales
Number of Orders
Using the "Group by" dropdown
Out of the box, Seelk Studio provides users with three main groups for their ASINs:
Marketplace(s)
Amazon Brand(s)
Amazon Categories
ASIN
Depending on what type of Seller or Vendor you are, you may or may not be in multiple marketplaces, brands or have products present in multiple categories. Nonetheless, you may still want to group your ASINs in a custom way, such as by "color", "material" or "size" for example.
In Seelk Studio we refer to these custom groupings as 'Attributes'. (Read more about how to use Attributes).
Once you've setup your 'Attributes' or simply want to switch between Countries, Brands, Categories or simply want to see your sales by individual ASIN - you can use the "Group by" dropdown next to the "Metric" dropdown at the top right of the BI Dashboard.
When you switch "Groups" both the graph and the data table change according to the selected "group". The data table will display values of the selected Group as rows and the graph can display the values for groups with up to 7 values.
How do I select a date range?
Selecting a date range is done using the date picker at the top right of the Business Intelligence Dashboard interface.
To select a date range:
Click on the date picker and select their "Weeks" or "Months" as your method for selecting the date.
You can use either the Presets on the left of the date picker to quickly choose a time period or select a date range manually.
You can also type your date range inside the date picker itself
Hit Apply
How do I compare two date ranges?
To compare two date ranges, take the following steps:
Click on the "vs" toggle inside the date picker - "Period B" will appear below "Period A"
Select your Period A and your Period B using either typing the date, using the manual selector, or using the presets
Hit Apply
How do I use Year over year?
Year over Year (YoY) allows users to compare their current sales growth with that of the previous year. You turn YoY on and off by clicking the toggle at the top of the BI Dashboard interface.
When toggling YoY, all the elements in the inteface are updated. You will see appear in the metric panels (below the current number) the result from the same period of the previous year AND the percentage of change from the previous year as compared to this year.
In the graph you will notice that there are now three lines appear:
Metric results of the selected date range for this year
Metric results of the selected date range for the previous year
The growth factor Year of Year in percentage
What are the 'metrics panels'?
The metrics panels are aggregated data of the selected sales metric according to the selected date range.
For example:
If you are an Amazon Vendor and you select 'Sell-In Sales' as your metric, and your date range is the past two months. You will see in the "Period A" metric panel the total 'Sell-In Sales' for those two months. It's that simple. When you are not in data comparison mode, there are also panels for the total sales for:
Calendar Year to Date
Last 90 Days
Last 30 days
The metrics panels have additional data added to them when either in Year over Year or data comparison modes. The data from the comparison period (i.e. 'Period B' or 'Previous Year') will appear below the current data (see above gif 👍).
Understanding the Data Table
The contents of the data table are controlled the selectors and toggles in the control bar at the top of the BI Dashboard Interface. The selectors are as follows:
the "Metric" dropdown
the "Group by" dropdown
the Date Range selectors
Year over Year toggle
A couple of things to note:
You can only select one metric at a time
What you see as rows in the data table are the values of the 'Attribute' you selected in 'Group by'. For example, if you selected "Countries", you will see the list of the marketplace in which you have products being sold.
The Data Table - 'Default' mode
The columns for 'Default' mode can be explained as follows:
YTD | Year to Date
[A] | Whatever date range you have defined in Period A in the date picker
The Data Table 'Year over Year' mode
The columns for the 'YoY' mode can be explained as follows:
YTD | Data from Year to Date
YTD - Prev. Year | Data from Year to Date of the Previous Year
YoY [YTD] (%) | The percentage of change between Year to Date and the previous year
[YTD] CTG (%) | The contribution to growth of a specific value of a group relative to the other values in the group for Year to Date versus the Year to Date of the previous year
[A] | Data from Period A
[A] - Prev. Year | Data from Period A of the previous year
[A] YoY (%) | The percentage of change between Period A and the previous year
[A] CTG (%) | The contribution to growth of a specific value of a group relative to the other values in the group for Period A versus the Period A of the previous year
The Data Table 'Period A vs Period B' mode
The columns for the 'YoY' mode can be explained as follows:
YTD | Data from Year to Date
[A] | Data from Period A
[B] | Data from Period B
[B] vs [A] | The difference in percentage between Period A and Period B
[B] vs [A] CTG (%) | The contribution to growth of a specific value of a group relative to the other values in the group for Period A versus the Period B
You can also change Contribution of Growth (CTG) to base points if you wish by click on the toggle inside the data table as demonstrated below: