32 Questions Answered by Datma’s Analytics

E-commerce Analytics Reports: Key Questions and Metrics

This document summarizes key e-commerce analytics reports, providing a holistic understanding of the conversion funnel, sales dynamics, inventory, and customer retention.

1. How Are My Products Converting?

You can gain a holistic understanding of the conversion funnel’s effectiveness by examining three key measures: Product Views, Add-to-Cart, and Units Sold.

Product Views: Help you understand product visibility and appeal, informing marketing optimization and product visibility strategies.
Add-to-Cart: Represent a critical point where customer intent transitions into action, guiding strategic improvements in user experience and conversion funnel efficiency.
Units Sold: Quantify successful conversions, helping to assess funnel effectiveness, identify high-performing products, and optimize inventory.

2. What’s My Sales & Refunds Dynamic?

Pairing the examination of Units Sold and Refunded Units offers a strategic method for understanding and improving product-specific performance.

Understanding key aspects of product performance: Units sold measure success and popularity, while refunded units offer insights into customer dissatisfaction.
Inventory Management: Units sold guide inventory decisions, while refunded units signal potential quality or customer satisfaction issues, aiding in strategic inventory management.
Proactive Customer Satisfaction Enhancement: Refunded units highlight areas for improvement in product descriptions, quality assurance, or meeting customer expectations.

3. How Much Inventory Do I Need?

The trio formed of Units Sold, Product Views, and Inventory Quantity acts as a powerhouse for effective inventory management.

Units Sold provide a direct measure of product demand.
Product Views serve as a leading indicator of customer interest and potential demand trends.
Inventory Quantity offers a real-time snapshot of available stock.

This triple-measures approach ensures inventory replenishment and stockouts or overstock prevention, empowering you to strike a balance between demand and supply.

4. Are My Customers Coming Back?

Know whether customers return after their first order by using these two measures:

Customer Churn after First Purchase: The number of customers who do not make subsequent purchases after their initial order. This highlights areas where customer satisfaction or engagement may be lacking.
Customer Retention after First Purchase: The number of customers who have placed subsequent orders after their initial product purchase. A high retention indicates effective strategies in nurturing customer loyalty.

5. How Long Until the Next Order?

Understand more about your customers’ buying patterns and frequency with these two measures:

Average Days to Repurchase: The average number of days it takes for a customer to make a repeat purchase of the same product. This provides deep insights into customer buying behavior and loyalty.
Average Days to Next Order: The average number of days it takes for a customer to place their next order after purchasing a specific product. This helps estimate customer engagement and the effectiveness of marketing strategies.

6. How Are My Variants Selling?

Get a quick understanding of how your variants are selling with these three measures:

Variant Units Sold: Quantifies individual product variations sold, aiding in inventory management and optimizing marketing efforts.
Variant Revenue: Measures the total income generated from the sales of different product variants, helping pinpoint high-value products and targeted pricing strategies.
Variant Average Selling Price (ASP): Calculates the average price at which each product variant is sold, assisting in evaluating pricing strategies and identifying upselling opportunities.

7. How Profitable Are My Variants?

Learn more about the profitability of your variants with these four measures:

Discount: Evaluates the effectiveness of discounting strategies and their impact on sales and revenue.
COGS (Cost of Goods Sold): Denotes the cost incurred to produce or acquire specific product variants, enabling accurate profitability assessment.
Variant Refunded Value: Quantifies the monetary value of refunds issued, helping to analyze product performance and identify quality issues.
Variant Revenue: Measures the total income generated after accounting for discounts and refunds, providing a comprehensive view of revenue streams.

8. How Many Variant Refunds Do I Have?

Understand and optimize the returns process and customer satisfaction with the help of these measures:

Refunded Units: The number of individual product units refunded, allowing you to monitor product returns and implement strategies to minimize them.
Refunded Value: The total monetary value of all product refunds processed (excluding shipping), helping you assess the financial impact of returns.
Orders with Refund: The number of orders that resulted in at least one product refund, offering insights into the frequency of returns within the customer base.

9. How Can I Improve Inventory Management?

Improve your inventory management with these 4 measures, where COGS is Cost of Goods Sold:

Start Amount (COGS): The value of inventory at the beginning of a specified time frame (baseline).
End Amount (COGS): The value of inventory at the end of the designated time frame.
IN Amount (COGS): The value of inventory added or purchased during the time frame.
OUT Amount (COGS): The value of inventory subtracted or sold during the specified period.

10. How Are My Collections Selling?

Understand how your collections sell by using these 3 measures:

Overall sales: The total revenue generated from the sale of all products within a specific collection.
Overall units sold: The total quantity of products sold within the collection during a given period.
Overall transactions: The total number of transactions completed for all products within the collection.

11. Which Vendors Generate the Most Refunds?

Identifying which vendors generate the most refunds is crucial. Utilizing performance-related metrics, such as product refund rates, provides valuable insights into vendor relationships.

Low refund rates generally signify positive and stable vendor relationships.
High refund rates may indicate potential issues such as product quality concerns or fulfillment challenges.

12. Which Marketing Efforts Drive the Most Sales?

Datma removes the challenge of identifying effective marketing strategies through its UTM tracking report for sold products (Sold Products by UTM Source). This tool simplifies tracking which marketing channels, campaigns, or sources drive crucial sales.

Read more about this in our UTM Tracking: UTM Parameters and Why You Need These Codes article.

13. How Does A Price Change Affect My Sales?

You can track how a price change affects your sales across individual products, variants, product types, and vendors, measured in terms of revenue, units sold, or gross margin.

Demand Elasticity: Measures how sensitive the quantity demanded is to price changes.
Consumer Behavior: Unveils patterns in consumer response to price fluctuations (e.g., lower prices boosting sales volume).
Perceived Value: Explores the impact of price changes on how consumers perceive the value of your offering (e.g., higher price implying higher quality).

See how the report works by watching our video on YouTube.

14. Why Are My Products Being Abandoned?

To tackle cart abandonment, analyze individual product performance measures. You can track and evaluate product types, vendors, sources, refunds, and more using the Products analysis tab.

Bonus: 4 strategies to reduce cart abandonment:

Improve the physical product or its presentation (high-quality media, detailed descriptions).
Increase the number of payment types offered.
Minimize the time it takes for customers to reach the checkout (eliminate unnecessary steps).
Implement a proactive approach by emailing customers with abandoned carts, offering incentives.

15. Products Viewed but Not Purchased?

The „Without Purchases” report identifies products capturing substantial customer attention without resulting in actual transactions. Once identified, investigate obstacles such as pricing, abandonment rate, or poor product description to boost sales.

16. Which Are My Most Visited Products?

To identify the most visited products, utilize the following measures:

PDP Views: Product Detail Page Views.
Product Revenue: Financial contribution of the product.
PLP Impressions: Product Listing Page Impressions.
Product Conversion Rate: The rate at which views convert to sales.

Focusing on enhancing these attention-grabbing products can lead to increased sales and overall store performance.

17. How Should I Analyze Refunds?

The Refunded Products Report provides over 40 available measures to help you understand and manage refunds. Key measure combinations include:

Metric Combination	Insight Gained
Units Sold & Refunded Units	Understand the popularity of products vs. dissatisfaction.
Product Revenue & Refunded Value	Assess product profitability by relating revenue to refunded value.
Transactions & Orders with Refund	Reveal patterns in customer behavior tied to return frequency.
Product Margin & COGS	Uncover profitability for pricing and inventory decisions.
Churned Customers & Customer Churn Rate	Offer a nuanced view of customer retention challenges post-refund.
PDP View CR & PLP Impressions	Provide insights for content and presentation improvements to minimize returns.
Inventory Management Metrics	Integrated view of inventory dynamics (Value, Quantity, Sell Through Rate) concerning refunded products.
Average Selling Price (ASP) & Average Product Price (APP)	Compare price pre- and post-refund to guide pricing strategies.
Customer Segmentation Metrics	Focus on retaining new customers post-refund by segmenting first-time churned.
Revenue per View & Revenue Per Impression	Link revenue generation with product visibility to shape marketing strategies.

18. Do Product Impressions Matter?

Product Impressions data provides a granular understanding of customer behavior.

Product Impressions CR (Conversion Rate): The percentage of visitors who make a purchase after viewing a product. Tracks the effectiveness of product listings.
Product Impressions CTR (Click-Through Rate): The percentage of users who click on a product listing after seeing it. Helps understand product visibility and appeal.
Revenue per Product Impressions: The average revenue generated for each product impression, helping prioritize high-margin products.

19. What Are My Daily Average Sales?

DAS, or Daily Average Sales, is calculated by dividing total units sold by the number of days in a specified period.

Granular Performance Analysis: Provides insight into short-term (2 days, 7 days) and long-term (30 days, 180 days) sales performance.
Trend Identification: Helps identify sudden spikes or gradual declines, guiding marketing strategies and inventory planning.
Performance Benchmarking: Serves as a tool for evaluating current performance against historical data.

20. How Can I Track Inventory Movements?

Tracking product inventory movements is based on 4 main measures:

Start Quantity & End Quantity: Highlights the entire inventory lifecycle and helps analyze stock level trends.
IN Quantity & OUT Quantity: Monitors the dynamic movements of inventory, helping you understand sales speed and restocking needs for supply chain optimization.

21. How Profitable Are My Products?

Understanding product profitability is essential, focusing on three crucial measures at the SKU level:

Product Gross Profit: The net profit generated by a specific product, helping identify products that make a substantial financial contribution.
Product Margin: A percentage showcasing a product’s profitability in relation to its revenue, guiding strategic pricing and marketing decisions.
Product Revenue: The total income generated by a product, providing a comprehensive view of sales performance.

22. Are My Collections Successful?

Two important measures stand out in evaluating collection performance:

Collection Conversion Rate (Collection CR): Shows how effectively a collection converts views into transactions.
Collection Click-Through Rate (Collection CTR): Measures the success of promotional strategies by reflecting the level of engagement generated.

23. Which Products Make the Best First Impression?

This report gives insight into which products capture attention and convert viewers into buyers.

PLP Impressions (Product Listing Page): Show product visibility across various pages, helping optimize placement.
Impression CR (Conversion Rate): The proportion of purchases that come from these impressions, highlighting products best at turning viewers into buyers.
Product Revenue: Measures the financial contribution of the product.

How are these measures working together?

High PLP Impressions but Low Impressions CR: Many views but few purchases. Action: Revise product listings, offer competitive pricing, and encourage positive reviews.
Low PLP Impressions but High Impressions CR: Converting well but not being seen by a large audience. Action: Invest in targeted advertising, improve SEO, or use social media to increase visibility.
High PLP Impressions and High Impressions CR: The ideal scenario. Action: Maintain momentum by continually updating listings and monitoring feedback.
Low PLP Impressions and Low Impressions CR: Not reaching a wide audience and not converting well. Action: Reassess marketing, improve product quality, and optimize listings.

24. Which Products Attract Customers?

To discover which products attract and retain customers, you can use a report that includes the following measures.

First Time Customers: The number of customers who purchased that specific product in their first order, telling you which products are the entry point for new customers.
Repurchased Customers: The number of customers who repurchased the same product, indicating customer satisfaction and loyalty to that specific item.
Repeat Customers: The number of customers who made at least one more order after their initial purchase of a particular product, offering a broader measure of customer loyalty to the brand initiated by that product.

25. How Can I Manage Product Inventory?

Effective inventory management is revealed through three product-centric measures.

Average Inventory: The typical stock level for each product, helping you use resources wisely and avoid overstock.
Inventory Turnover: Checks how fast you sell and restock each product, helping you adjust sales and buying plans.
Inventory Age: How long each product has been in stock, helping you identify slow-moving items that may require promotions.

26. Which Products Are Frequently Bought Together?

The „Frequently Bought Together” report shows what items often end up in the same shopping cart, providing three dimensions: individual products, product types, and vendors. This data helps you plan marketing strategies and create bundles.

Bundling Strategies:

Pure Bundles: Exclusive combos where items are unavailable separately.
New Product Bundling: Pairing a new release with a familiar item for heightened awareness.
Cross-Sell Bundling: Offering an additional, complementary product (often cheaper).
Gifting Bundles: Tailored for events.
Inventory Clearance Bundling: Pairing slow-sellers with popular items.

27. What is My Customer Churn Rate For Individual Products?

Product-specific churn rate helps you see if people are sticking with a product.

Churned Customers: Customers who have not made another purchase after buying the product. Interpretation depends on whether the product is a one-time purchase or a consumable.
First Time Churned: Customers who bought a product on their first order and have not made another purchase after. This can indicate a great product that fulfills all customer needs (if it’s a one-off item) or a product that drives customers away from your store (if it’s a consumable).

28. Do I Have Forgotten Products?

The „Performance Ratios” report details product performance and is divided into six distinct classes:

Hidden Products: Products that have never been viewed by visitors or recurring customers.
Viewed, not purchased: Products whose detail pages have been viewed and added to the cart, but remain unordered.
Listed, not clicked: Products that appeared in a listing or search result but were never clicked to open the detail page.
B Products: Products contributing to 70–90% of the cumulative revenue (high-performing).
C Products: Products making up the bottom 10% in terms of revenue contribution.
A Products: Products that collectively generate 70% of the cumulative revenue (top-performing).

29. Are My Product Types Performing Well?

How Is Revenue Shifting Across Product Types?

This report tracks revenue shifts on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis in both value amount and percentage.

This analysis helps you:

Allocate resources more effectively by focusing on high-performing types.
Improve marketing by tailoring promotional campaigns.
Optimize inventory by adapting to short-term fluctuations.

This report also offers similar analysis for items sold, transactions, refunds, and Cost of Goods Sold (COGS).

What Product Types Catch the Eye of My Customers?

Identifying popular items helps you meet demand and optimize inventory.

PLP Impressions (Product Listing Page): How frequently a product type appears on listings, providing details into its visual appeal and customer visibility.
PDP Views (Product Detailed Page): The frequency of customers viewing the detailed page of a specific product type.
ATC Rate (Add to Cart Rate): The ratio of customers adding a specific product type to their cart, offering insights into its potential to convert.

30. Are My Product Variants Performing Well?

Which Variants Outsell All the Others?

By checking the refunded units, revenue, and units sold within the variants report, you can track effortlessly which variant outshines all others.

Actionable Takeaway: If black, slim-fit, medium/large t-shirts consistently outsell other variants, the retailer can focus marketing efforts, ensure they are well-stocked, and consider expanding the range of similar variants.