How to analyze sales on marketplaces?

Sales on marketplaces need to be analyzed using a whole system of metrics: gross revenue, profit, number of orders, conversion rate, returns, advertising, and trends over time. This is the only way to understand what is happening with your business, why the numbers are changing, and which actions truly increase profit.

What is included in sales analysis on marketplaces

Sales analysis on marketplaces is an assessment not only of turnover, but also of real profit, profitability, and the effectiveness of every stage of the customer journey.

The same gross revenue for two sellers can yield completely different financial results. This is influenced by:

product cost price;

marketplace commissions and services;

advertising expenses;

percentage of returns and cancellations;

logistics and packaging.

Which metrics need to be analyzed

Gross Revenue

Gross revenue is the total sales volume for a selected period, excluding expenses. Its purpose is to show the scale of turnover.

How to analyze gross revenue:

look at gross revenue over time: by day, week, month;

compare periods with each other;

account for seasonality and promotions to avoid confusing natural fluctuations with problems.

But gross revenue alone does not indicate how efficient the business is. You can sell a lot and earn little, or even operate at a loss.

Profit

Profit shows how much money remains for the seller after all costs. This is the main indicator of real earnings.

Profit is affected by:

product cost price;

marketplace commission;

advertising expenses;

logistics, storage, packaging;

taxes;

returns and disposal.

If gross revenue is growing but profit is falling, it means:

advertising expenses have increased;

commissions or logistics fees have gone up;

margin has decreased (e.g., due to price dumping);

the share of unprofitable products has become higher.

Without calculating profit, any conclusions based on gross revenue will be incomplete and often erroneous.

Number of Orders

The number of orders shows how demand for products is changing.

This metric allows you to track:

the impact of seasonality (e.g., growth during holidays and decline in summer);

the effect of price changes (increase/decrease);

the impact of ad campaigns;

competitor activity (new product launches, price reductions, promotions).

It is important to look not only at the total number of orders, but also at the breakdown by:

individual products (SKUs);

categories;

marketplaces.

This makes it easier to notice, for example, that total orders are being sustained by a few strong items while the rest are declining.

Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is the percentage of users who, after visiting a product listing, placed an order.

Simple formula: Conversion Rate = (Number of Orders / Number of Product Listing Visitors) × 100%

If traffic to the listing is high but orders are falling, the problem is usually in the listing itself or the offer. First, check:

photos and their quality;

title and description;

price and discount;

product availability in stock;

rating and reviews;

competing offers on the same search page.

Working on conversion rate often provides a quick boost in sales without increasing traffic.

Returns

Returns show what percentage of orders were not redeemed or were returned.

A high return rate:

reduces actual profit;

worsens the product and store rankings;

increases logistics and processing costs.

Returns most often increase due to:

product quality issues;

differences between the actual product and photos/descriptions;

incorrect sizes/characteristics;

poor packaging (products damaged in transit).

Analyzing the reasons for returns through reviews and messages helps quickly identify what needs to be improved.

How to analyze sales through the funnel

Funnel analysis shows at which stage customers are lost when sales decline.

Basic chain for a marketplace:

Impressions → Clicks to listing → Orders → Redemptions

What a decline at each stage means:

Fewer impressions

The product has dropped in search, lost positions in categories, visibility has decreased. Reasons: competitors have increased advertising, algorithms have changed, advertising has ended, rating has dropped.

Fewer clicks with the same number of impressions

The listing has become less attractive: photos, title, price, or rating have worsened; more favorable offers have appeared nearby.

Fewer orders with stable traffic

Conversion rate is falling. Usually, the cause is price, availability, listing content, reviews, or delivery terms.

Fewer redemptions with the same number of orders

Returns are increasing: buyers are not picking up orders or are returning them after receipt. You need to look into quality, sizes, expectations, and packaging.

When analysis is built around the funnel, you can find the root cause of a decline, rather than just noting "sales have dropped."

Why it is important to analyze products individually

Analysis by each SKU is necessary because different products play different roles in the business.

The assortment is usually divided into groups:

products that generate the main profit;

items that form the majority of turnover, but not always the highest margin;

slow-moving items – the product barely sells;

items with excessive advertising costs;

unprofitable products.

If you only look at overall store figures, you can:

fail to notice that strong products are "pulling up" all the statistics;

miss failures in individual SKUs;

continue pouring advertising into unprofitable items.

Regular analysis of each product allows you to:

promptly discontinue or improve unprofitable items;

boost promotion of top-selling products;

adjust prices and advertising budgets precisely, rather than "across the board."

Why it is important to look at metric trends

Sales analysis is not a one-time action, but an ongoing process. A single snapshot from any one day does not provide an objective picture.

You need to compare metrics:

day over day;

week over week;

month over month;

year over year, adjusted for seasonality.

How analytics services help with sales analysis

With a small number of products, you can work manually for a while. But as soon as the catalog grows to dozens or hundreds of SKUs, simple exports are no longer sufficient.

Manual analysis requires:

exporting various reports from the seller dashboard;

combining them in spreadsheets;

manually calculating key metrics;

finding correlations between indicators.

This is time-consuming, complex, and often leads to errors.

Analytics services automate this work. For example, Torgstat:

collects data from Wildberries, Ozon, and Yandex Market;

shows sales and profit for each product;

calculates SKU economics including commissions and expenses;

analyzes advertising costs and their effectiveness;

displays the sales funnel and other key metrics in a single interface.

As a result, the seller:

finds growth points faster;

identifies unprofitable products;

makes decisions based on a complete picture, rather than scattered reports from different marketplaces.

Common mistakes in sales analysis

The same miscalculations are often encountered on marketplaces:

focusing only on gross revenue;

not calculating profit and margin;

drawing conclusions from a single day's data;

not comparing metrics with previous periods;

ignoring advertising expenses;

looking only at overall store statistics, not individual products;

not analyzing the funnel: impressions, clicks, orders, redemptions.

The result is incorrect conclusions and decisions that do not improve the situation, and sometimes make it worse.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to properly analyze sales on marketplaces?

Correct sales analysis on marketplaces includes evaluating:

gross revenue and profit;

number of orders;

conversion rate from views to orders;

percentage of returns;

advertising expenses and their return on investment;

changes in all these metrics over time by day, week, month.

Additionally, it is important to look at the sales funnel and statistics for each product individually.

Why can't you focus only on gross revenue?

Gross revenue shows turnover, but does not indicate how much the seller earned. A situation where gross revenue is high but profit is low or negative is common on marketplaces. Therefore, you cannot rely solely on gross revenue.

How often should you analyze sales?

Basic operating mode:

key metrics (gross revenue, orders, redemptions, returns, advertising) – monitor daily;

detailed analysis by product, funnel, and profit – do at least once a week;

in-depth analysis considering seasonality and strategic decisions – monthly and quarterly.

Which services help analyze sales?

For systematic analytics, sellers use specialized services that automatically collect and process data.

For example, Torgstat:

combines statistics from Wildberries, Ozon, and Yandex Market;

automatically calculates key metrics for sales and profit;

helps evaluate advertising effectiveness and the economics of each product;

shows the entire business picture in one window.

This simplifies analytics and makes management decisions more accurate and faster.