Here’s Our List of Essential Amazon Seller Metrics to Track for Maximum Profitability

Updated
July 10, 2024

Helpful Summary

  • Overview: We explore the key metrics Amazon sellers should closely monitor to maximize their profits on the platform.
  • Why You Can Trust Us: At Merch Jar, we have a proven record of helping our clients boost their sales and conversion rates with our Amazon automation tools. The information we share is based on results reported in our case studies, extensive research, and practical insights.
  • Why This Is Important: Identifying the key Amazon seller metrics to monitor allows better business optimization, improves product visibility, and boosts sales on the Amazon platform.
  • Action Points: As an Amazon seller, familiarize yourself with the most vital key metrics we listed in this article to get a comprehensive view of your business’s performance within the platform.
  • Further Research: Take advantage of free trial offers of popular Amazon seller tools like Merch Jar and consider integrating them into your business to automate key processes like ad campaign management, product research, price analysis, and inventory management.

As an Amazon seller, a solid understanding of the specific Amazon seller metrics to track and closely monitor is essential for your business's success. Monitoring these key metrics will allow you to optimize your strategies to improve your business performance and sales. 

At Merch Jar, we understand how vital key seller metrics can impact a business’s performance on Amazon. 

In this article, we'll guide you through the most important Amazon seller metrics you should be tracking to ensure your business thrives on the platform.

But first things first…

Why Listen To Us?

Here at Merch Jar, we made it our mission to help sellers and marketers navigate the daily challenges of running an e-commerce business.

As a trusted platform for Amazon advertising, we have years of hands-on experience and a deep understanding of the intricacies of selling on Amazon.

Our tools for automating ad campaigns have been proven instrumental in boosting visibility, business performance, and sales.

What Are Amazon Seller Metrics?

Amazon seller metrics are data points that provide insights into various aspects of your Amazon business. These aspects mainly include sales performance, customer satisfaction, and operational efficiency. 

Monitoring these key metrics is essential for measuring your business's health and finding more success while selling on Amazon.

Benefits of Monitoring Key Seller Metrics on Amazon

Monitoring critical metrics on Amazon offers numerous benefits for sellers, especially ensuring long-term success. Here are the main benefits of monitoring and understanding Amazon seller metrics:

Comprehensive Business Performance Monitoring: Regularly tracking Amazon's key metrics gives sellers a comprehensive view of their business performance. By identifying ongoing positive and negative trends in your business, you can make timely adjustments to your Amazon business strategies and operations.

Amazon Account Health: Maintaining good seller metrics is vital for keeping your Amazon account in good standing. As you may already know, poor performance ratings on Amazon seller accounts can result in fines or even suspension.

Better Financial Management: Understanding various financial metrics (such as Amazon FBA fees, storage costs, shipping, etc) is essential for sellers to track their expenditures and ensure profitable operations. 

Business Optimization: Analyzing key seller metrics allows for data-driven decision-making, enabling sellers to maximize their marketing strategies on Amazon.

Customer Satisfaction: Good metrics directly reflect high customer satisfaction, which enhances a seller’s reputation and also boosts product visibility and ranking on Amazon. For instance,  Amazon seller metrics like the order defect rate (ODR) help identify and address customer dissatisfaction quickly, ensuring a higher level of service and better customer experience.

Top 7 Amazon Seller Metrics You Should Monitor

Below are the most important key metrics you should closely monitor as an Amazon seller:

1. Order Defect Rate (ODR)

ODR measures the percentage of orders with defects, including negative feedback, A-to-Z Guarantee claims, and chargebacks, which are client money returns. Amazon requires an ODR of less than 1% to maintain good standing​.

For example, if you receive 5 negative feedbacks, 2 A-to-Z Guarantee claims, and 3 chargebacks out of 500 orders monthly, your ODR is 2%, above the acceptable threshold. 

A high ODR can lead to penalties, account suspension, or deactivation. Close monitoring allows you to keep your ODR low to ensure customer satisfaction and maintain your selling privileges on Amazon.

To maintain a low ODR, always strive to provide outstanding customer service, timely shipping, and quality products​ .

2. Unit Session Percentage (Conversion Rate)

USP indicates the ratio of units sold to the number of sessions (unique visitors) on your product pages. High conversion rates signal strong product appeal and productive marketing, while low conversion rates suggest that your listings might need optimization.

For example, let’s say you have 1000 sessions and 150 sales; your conversion rate is 15%.

Improving product descriptions, using high-quality images, competitive pricing, and keyword optimization are some proven ways to boost conversion rates.​

Merch Jar’s Smart Campaigns and Recipes features allow you to optimize keywords and ad bids automatically. This ensures your product listings are targeted, improving conversion rates. 

3. Advertising Cost of Sales (ACoS)

ACoS is a key Amazon seller metric that measures the efficiency of your advertising campaigns. It is calculated as the percentage of ad spend relative to the sales generated from those ads​.

For example, if you spend $500 on ads and generate $1000 in sales, your ACoS is 50%. The general rule of thumb is to aim for an ACoS under 25%. Lower ACoS indicates better ad performance, meaning you're getting more sales for less spending. 

Ad automation tools like Merch Jar allow precise bid adjustments based on ACoS targets. Automated bid management ensures your ad spend is optimized for the best return on investment, maintaining a desirable ACoS.

4. Pre-Fulfillment Cancellation Rate

This metric tracks the percentage of orders canceled by the seller before shipping. It must be kept below 2.5% as high cancellation rates can harm your account standing and customer trust. Customers expect reliability.  Frequent cancellations can lead to negative reviews and decreased sales.

You must maintain accurate inventory levels, update listings promptly, and plan for high-demand periods to avoid stockouts or depleted stock​. This reduces the chances of needing to cancel orders due to inventory issues.

5. Late Shipment Rate

This Amazon seller metric refers to the percentage of orders shipped after the expected ship date.

Late shipments can result in negative reviews and lower seller ratings. And, if you consistently miss shipment deadlines, Amazon may also penalize your account, which can only be bad for your business.

To avoid penalties, streamline your order fulfillment processes, use reliable shipping methods, and keep your inventory organized to ensure timely dispatch.

6. Buy Box Percentage

This Amazon metric refers to the percentage of page views where the Amazon seller won the Buy Box. The Buy Box is the white box on the right side of an Amazon product page where products are added to a cart.

Securing the Buy Box can significantly boost your sales volume, driving more purchases.

To increase your chances of winning the Buy Box, maintain a low ODR, ensure competitive pricing, keep your inventory well-stocked, and use Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA). FBA offers exclusive benefits like Prime two-day shipping.

Merch Jar's bid management and keyword optimization features help you maintain competitive pricing and practical ad placement, increasing your chances of winning the Buy Box.

7. Inventory Performance Index (IPI)

The IPI measures your inventory levels, sell-through rates, and excess inventory. 

Maintaining a high IPI score can be challenging, but it ensures better storage management and could reduce fees​ . In contrast, a low score can lead to increased storage fees and inventory restrictions. 

To avoid having a low IPI score, regularly monitor your inventory levels, reduce excess stock, and optimize your listings for better sell-through rates.

Merch Jar: Empowering Marketers’ Ability to Monitor Key Amazon Seller Metrics

Merch Jar is a powerful tool designed to help Amazon sellers optimize and automate their advertising campaigns. Here's how Merch Jar's features align with monitoring essential Amazon seller metrics:

Merch Jar Key Features for Streamlining Your Amazon Business

  • Recipes: Automates bid adjustments and other routine tasks based on custom triggers and actions you set. This ensures your campaigns are continuously optimized without manual intervention​ and helps maintain optimal ACoS and conversion rates.
  • Smart Campaigns: Continually monitors search term performance, automatically creating high-performing keywords and negating poor ones. This Merch Jar feature enhances ad efficiency and relevance, improving conversion rates and reducing wasted ad spend.
  • Bulk Actions: Allows large-scale changes across all your ad campaigns with just a few clicks, bypassing Amazon's bulk sheet limitations, saving time, and reducing the complexity of managing large product catalogs.
  • Dashboards: Merch Jar provides comprehensive insights into your advertising performance, with customizable views and detailed analytics​ to help you easily monitor key metrics.

Conclusion

By monitoring vital Amazon seller metrics like ODR, conversion rate, and IPI, you can make informed decisions to enhance your performance and customer satisfaction. 

Tools like Merch Jar can further streamline this process, helping you stay ahead in the competitive Amazon marketplace. Merch Jar's advanced features provide Amazon sellers with the tools necessary to monitor and improve key metrics. 

Try Merch Jar for free and experience how our tool can help grow and take your Amazon business to the next level!