Boost Sales and Cut Costs: 9 Must-Have Inventory and Sales Reports for Your E-commerce Store
Merry Christmas to you and yours!
Reporting and analytics are essential because they tell you exactly what’s going on in your e-commerce business.
Having accurate and timely data lets you make well-informed decisions around critical areas like inventory management, promotions, pricing, and staffing.
Without the right reports and data analysis, e-commerce store owners are flying blind and prone to making poor choices that negatively impact the business.
However, data overload and analysis paralysis are real threats.
E-commerce store owners often have access to an overwhelming amount of data but may not know which metrics are most important to focus on.
Looking at the wrong data points can lead to bad decision making.
Carefully choosing the right reports and key performance indicators to monitor is crucial.
This article will outline the most vital e-commerce reports that you should track.
Having a handle on these essential reports will enable smart, data-driven decisions that help boost sales, margins, and overall e-commerce performance.
With the right analytics, you can confidently determine optimal inventory levels, identify top-selling products, understand customer behavior, target promotions effectively, and make key business decisions with confidence.
Sales Reports
Sales reports provide insight into the health and performance of your business. Monitoring key sales metrics regularly is crucial for understanding trends and making data-driven decisions.
Here are some of the most important sales reports to analyze:
Total Sales : Total sales shows the big picture view of revenue generated. Track this regularly to monitor growth and seasonal trends. Set goals for weekly, monthly, and annual sales totals to benchmark performance.
Average Order Value : The average order value (AOV) calculates the average amount spent per order. This helps you determine if customers are purchasing more or less per transaction over time. A rise in AOV is a positive sign that customers are buying higher priced items or more add-ons/upsells.
Sales by Channel : Analyze sales broken down by different channels like in-store, website, mobile, etc. This reveals which channels are producing the most revenue so you can focus marketing efforts and inventory accordingly. Identifying the top-performing channels also helps maximize ROI.
Top Selling Products : Regularly check best-selling products and product categories. This informs decisions about inventory - you can stock up on faster moving products and potentially phase out slow sellers. It also provides ideas for discounts, promotions, and marketing campaigns around popular products.
Traffic Reports
Traffic reports show how many people are coming to your e-commerce store and interacting with your site.
Monitoring traffic metrics helps you understand your website performance and identify opportunities for improvement.
Some key traffic reports to analyze regularly include:
Total Site Traffic - This shows the total number of sessions, users, page views, and other traffic metrics for your overall website. Track this daily, weekly, and monthly to spot trends.
Traffic Sources - Understand where your traffic is coming from, such as direct visits, search engines, social media, referrals, email, and more. Identify your best channels for driving traffic.
Landing Pages - See which pages get the most entry traffic and optimize those for conversions. Prioritize fixes for high entry pages with high bounce rates.
Bounce Rate - Measures the percentage of visitors who enter your site and leave after viewing just one page. High bounce rates signal opportunity to improve page experience. Analyze by landing page and traffic source.
Monitoring your e-commerce store's traffic reports provides visibility into performance and helps you make smart decisions to boost conversions.
Pay attention to how traffic metrics trend over time and test changes to see the impact.
Customer Reports
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