Vendor Central analytics: 5 reports that matter for 1P decisions
Direct answer The five report families that matter most for a 1P vendor are profitability, ordered-versus-shipped sales, inventory and operational health, traffic and conversion, and forecast/replenishment. Exact report names and access vary by marketplace, vendor agreement, and account permissions, so map the closest available dashboard to the decision you need to make.
What is Vendor Central analytics—and how is it different from Seller Central?
Vendor Central supports a first-party relationship in which Amazon purchases inventory from a vendor and resells it. Seller Central supports third-party offers where the seller sells to the end customer through Amazon’s store. That commercial difference changes what the data means.
- In Seller Central, revenue usually represents the seller’s customer sales.
- In Vendor Central, ordered revenue, shipped revenue, purchase orders, shortages, returns, allowances, and Amazon retail economics can sit in different views.
- A vendor can show strong consumer demand while still suffering from low shipped revenue because Amazon did not have inventory, a purchase order was not accepted, or supply execution failed.
Access warning Amazon does not expose the full Vendor Central help library publicly. Report names, fields, and navigation can differ by marketplace and account. Use this guide as a decision map, then confirm definitions in the in-account Help pages.
Which five report families actually drive 1P decisions?
| Report family | Question answered | Primary decision |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Profitability | Is the business economically sustainable at the current terms? | Price, cost, terms, assortment |
| 2. Sales diagnostic | Is demand converting into shipped revenue? | Availability and demand recovery |
| 3. Inventory & operations | Where is execution leaking? | PO, fill, shortages, chargebacks |
| 4. Traffic & conversion | Is the issue discovery or conversion? | Content, price, availability, retail readiness |
| 5. Forecast & replenishment | What should be supplied, when, and with what risk? | Production and inventory plan |
The order matters. Do not optimize traffic before confirming that the item is buyable, in stock, and economically viable.
Report 1 — Net PPM and sourcing share: are you profitable per unit?
Net PPM is an Amazon retail profitability measure used in many vendor accounts. The exact calculation and visible components can differ by program and marketplace. Treat it as a diagnostic signal, not as a replacement for your own contribution P&L.
- Read profitability by ASIN, not only at vendor total. Aggregate profit can hide structurally weak items.
- Separate price effects, cost effects, funding/allowances, returns, and mix where those fields are available.
- Compare periods using the same scope. A change in sourcing share or channel mix can move the metric without a true unit-economics improvement.
- Pair Amazon’s retail view with your own net invoice revenue, landed cost, terms, and operational deductions.
If a product has strong demand but weak economics, the action is not automatically “sell more.” The decision may be a cost revision, pack-size change, list-price architecture change, assortment exit, or negotiation on commercial terms.
Report 2 — Sales Diagnostic: ordered revenue versus shipped revenue
Ordered revenue is a demand signal; shipped revenue is a realized retail sales signal. The gap can expose lost demand, cancellations, availability issues, or timing differences.
Diagnostic gap Demand realization rate = Shipped revenue ÷ Ordered revenue. Use a consistent period and confirm the report definitions in your account.
- Ordered up, shipped flat: check availability, PO coverage, operational constraints, and cancellations.
- Traffic up, ordered flat: check conversion, pricing, content, reviews, and offer quality.
- Shipped down with stable traffic and conversion: check inventory and supply continuity first.
- Revenue up with units flat: separate price/mix effects from true volume growth.
Do not treat ordered and shipped metrics as interchangeable. State the metric explicitly in every weekly business review.
Report 3 — Inventory health and operational KPIs
This view connects demand to supply execution. Depending on your access, you may see inventory positions, weeks of cover, out-of-stock signals, purchase orders, confirmations, fill performance, shortages, lead times, chargebacks, or other operational deductions.
- Start with high-revenue ASINs that are unavailable or approaching a stockout.
- Separate Amazon on-hand inventory from vendor-available inventory and open purchase orders.
- Track repeated shortages or rejected quantities by root cause, not only by total value.
- Review chargebacks and deductions as process defects: labeling, ASN, appointment, packaging, quantity, or invoice errors.
- Use a short exception list. A 1,000-line report is not an action plan.
A practical weekly output is one table with ASIN, issue, revenue at risk, owner, action, and due date.
Report 4 — Traffic and conversion: Glance Views and conversion
Glance Views are a traffic measure used in many vendor analytics environments. Conversion should be interpreted with the exact denominator shown in your report. The combination creates a clean diagnostic tree:
| Traffic | Conversion | Likely starting point |
|---|---|---|
| Low | Healthy | Discovery, indexing, media, category visibility |
| High | Low | Price, content, reviews, availability, variation or offer issue |
| Low | Low | Retail readiness first; then traffic |
| High | High | Protect stock and scale efficiently |
Never infer causality from a single week. Check seasonality, retail events, availability, price changes, content changes, and media activity before assigning a root cause.
Report 5 — Demand forecast and replenishment
Forecast data is an input to planning, not a purchase commitment. Forecast horizons, confidence, and methodology can vary. Use it alongside actual purchase orders, lead times, minimum order quantities, production constraints, and your own demand history.
- Compare forecast to recent ordered and shipped run rates.
- Flag large forecast revisions and determine whether they are event-, price-, assortment-, or availability-driven.
- Model upside and downside inventory scenarios rather than adopting a single number.
- Protect high-contribution, high-velocity ASINs first when supply is constrained.
- Measure forecast error over time by ASIN family and horizon.
The best replenishment decision balances availability risk against overstock and obsolescence risk.
Where do you pull the reports?
Navigation labels vary. In most accounts, start from Vendor Central’s Analytics, Reports, Retail Analytics, Operations, Orders, or Payments areas. Use the report search and in-account Help to locate the closest view.
1. Define the business question before opening Vendor Central.
2. Select a consistent marketplace, vendor code, ASIN scope, and date range.
3. Export only the fields required for the decision.
4. Reconcile totals with the dashboard before transforming the file.
5. Record the report name, extraction date, filters, and definition notes in the workbook.
This extraction discipline prevents two people from presenting different answers from different scopes while both believe they are using “the same report.”
Which report should you read on which day?
| Cadence | Report focus | Output |
|---|---|---|
| Daily / event periods | Availability, PO exceptions, critical operational issues | Exception actions |
| Weekly | Sales diagnostic, traffic/conversion, inventory | Business review and owners |
| Monthly | Profitability, terms, deductions, forecast accuracy | Portfolio and commercial decisions |
| Quarterly | Assortment architecture and structural economics | Invest, fix, or exit decisions |
Frequently asked questions
Is Net PPM the same as the vendor’s profit margin?
No. It reflects Amazon retail economics as defined in the account. A vendor still needs its own P&L based on invoice revenue, product cost, allowances, logistics, deductions, and other terms.
Why can ordered revenue be higher than shipped revenue?
Possible causes include availability, cancellation, supply execution, timing, and report-definition differences. Diagnose the gap with inventory and operational data.
Are Glance Views the same as sessions?
Do not assume so. Use the definition shown in the report. Amazon uses different traffic terminology across vendor, seller, brand, and advertising environments.
Can the demand forecast be treated as a purchase order?
No. It is a planning signal. A purchase order is the transactional instruction to supply under the applicable terms.
Why do two vendor reports show different numbers for the same period?
They usually measure different events — ordered versus shipped versus received — or use different period definitions. Before assuming an error, confirm which event and basis each report uses.
Which report should I check first when sales drop?
Start with the demand view to establish whether customer demand or supply availability moved, because the remedies are completely different. Confirming that split first prevents most wasted analysis.
How far back should I look when investigating a change?
Far enough to cover a comparable prior period and any seasonality, but not so far that structural changes distort the comparison. Note anything that makes the periods non-comparable.
Can I rely on these reports for financial reporting?
Treat operational reporting as directional and reconcile money questions against remittances and invoices. Vendor reporting is built for operating decisions, not as an accounting ledger.
Related guides
Sources & verification note. Vendor Central content and definitions are largely account-gated. This guide avoids claiming a universal menu path or field set. Validate report definitions using the Help content available inside your own account.