Utilize Amazon Analytics: A Guide for Sellers

It’s hard to know where you’re going if you don’t know where you’ve been. The same maxim applies to your Amazon FBA seller shop. 

If you lack oversight on previous and ongoing performance, how then could you possibly make strategic decisions to improve the business going forward? In today’s eCommerce climate, excelling on Amazon is practically impossible with a set-and-forget mentality. Instead, a business must constantly make minor adjustments and major pivots as needed to optimize continuously.

Fortunately, there are powerful Amazon FBA tools that both beginner and established sellers can use to drill down into the data, generate valuable insights, and seize on that information. 

This guide will break down Amazon analytics for sellers and then suggest some of the top tools.

What is Amazon Data Analytics?

What products are your customers buying? How do they search for the products? What listing features help your products stand out? Why is one product selling but a similar good failing? How loyal are your customers? 

Data analytics helps you answer questions like these.

By studying consumer buying and preference patterns, sales metrics, competitor behavior, and various other data points, automated intelligence and machine learning systems can extrapolate, painting a more holistic and nuanced view of the overall market. As Tanvir Haque notes in Entrepreneur:

“Forward-looking companies are moving toward the goal of understanding each customer individually and using that understanding to make it easier (and more profitable) for the customer to do business with them rather than with competitors."

Armed with this data, sellers can make informed decisions to optimize their resources, cater to their customers’ desires, and adjust to a rapidly-shifting market. 

Benefits of Amazon Seller Analytics Tools 

Data analytics can provide myriad benefits for small and large Amazon businesses alike, with the three most notable advantages being: 

• Enabling segmentation – Even if a wide variety of people use your product, certain individuals may respond to different incentives or messaging styles. Segmentation is the process of dividing customers into smaller, more approachable groups. Customers may be segmented into subsets according to various factors like:

• Demographics
• Priorities
• Common interests
• Physiographic data
• Behavioral data 

This allows brands to create much stronger marketing messaging directed to that specific segment, which improves response rates and reduces acquisition costs. 

• Optimizing digital marketing – Whether you’re focusing on optimizing Amazon SEO, PPC, or a combination of both marketing strategies, data analysis helps you see what customers respond to and what falls flat. This knowledge enables sellers to reduce ad spending and maximize ROI.

• Product research and sales insights – Do you know which products are being bought the most? How about the least? Amazon sales dashboards track every aspect of your product sales, highlighting important trends and forecasting potential market shifts. This not only helps a seller prioritize the most important products but also improves inventory management.  

Top Amazon Analytics Tools for Beginners 

Are you just getting started as a seller with your own Amazon store? 

If so, there are several free tools you should start familiarizing yourself with before you move on to more advanced analytics solutions. Many of these are built directly into the Amazon FBA seller dashboard. Some of the best Amazon FBA tools include: 

• Amazon Brand Analytics – Do you own your brand? Amazon allows brands registered on the Amazon Brand Registry to utilize this additional solution. Placed right below the Reports tab in Amazon Seller Central, this analytics tool gives brands data reports on the following categories: 

• Amazon search terms
• Consumer demographics 
• Item comparison
• Alternate purchase
• Market Basket

• Amazon Forecast – This machine-learning solution performs time-series forecasting that takes your historical Amazon sales data and identifies key attributes to create a customized forecasting model. You can use this tool and other Amazon forecasting tools to leverage and inform your overall strategy.

• Brand Metrics – Also known as new-to-brand metrics, this solution helps quantify the opportunities for a brand throughout every stage of the customer journey. It’s able to estimate the total number of customers in the various stages of the sales funnel, making it possible to better understand brand performance, measure your Amazon KPIs and the impact of your campaigns, and evaluate engagement across various products and segments.

Augmenting Your Data Analytics 

Want to take your analytical efforts even further? 

While there are several powerful analytics platforms that sellers can sign up for, two stand out from the crowd. These aren’t free, but the analytical utility they provide can far outweigh the monthly subscription fee. Currently, our favorite advanced analytics solutions are: 

• SellerApp – Considered to be one of the top Amazon apps on the market, the SellerApp is an all-in-one solution that offers various seller tools that are needed to search for the right products, optimize SKUs, and scale your Amazon business strategically. It uses machine learning and advanced product intelligence to optimize product listings, improve visibility in search, and drive conversions. 

• Helium 10 – Like the SellerApp, Helium 10 is a multi-purpose tool for eCommerce sellers. But within this tech stack is an Amazon analytics tool that includes a sales tracker, market tracker, and keyword research tracker—all of which provide sellers with data-driven insights they need to scale.

Using Data Analytics to Prepare Your Company for a Sale 

Is your goal to build a successful eCommerce store and then sell it? 

Crossing that finish line is incredibly difficult without the help of both built-in and subscription analytics services. Even if you don’t want to take advantage of them, you’d better believe that your competitors will.

By embracing automated intelligence and machine learning, you can make data-driven decisions that help your Amazon business scale strategically and prepare it for a potential acquisition. 

Have you reached that stage? Are you ready to sell your Amazon FBA?  

At Forum Brands, we buy Amazon FBA businesses and then transform them into world-class consumer brands. Our team provides a tech-driven approach, a learn-out resource, and a hassle-free close. 

Sources: 

Entrepreneur. Why Data Analytics Can Help Drive Sales For Your Business. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/310001

Amazon Seller Central. About Amazon Brand Registry. https://sellercentral.amazon.com/gp/help/external/200955930?language=en-US&ref=efph_200955930_cont_201440080