Glossary
Retail and eCommerce data metrics, defined
Definitions of the retail and alternative-data metrics used in consumer investment research, including markdown breadth, discount depth, in-stock rate, matched-SKU inflation, mix shift, shrinkflation, online share of shelf and brand-to-ticker mapping, with how each is measured and its common pitfalls.
- Alternative data (shelf-side)
- Non-traditional data used in investment research; shelf-side data measures what is listed, at what price and availability, rather than what was bought.
- Assortment count
- The number of distinct products a brand or retailer has live for sale at a point in time.
- Assortment rationalization
- A deliberate reduction in the number of products a brand or retailer offers, often called SKU rationalization.
- Brand-to-ticker mapping
- Linking each consumer brand to the company that owns it and to that company's listed security, with ownership changes dated.
- Channel leakage
- Products moving from premium retailers to off-price retailers, a signal of excess inventory and brand-positioning risk.
- Discount depth
- The average percentage reduction from full price across products that are on sale.
- DTC vs wholesale mix
- How a brand's online assortment and pricing split between its own direct-to-consumer site and its wholesale retail partners.
- Full-price availability
- The share of a brand's products that are both in stock and selling at full price, a proxy for clean, healthy demand.
- In-stock rate
- The percentage of a brand's or retailer's listed products that are available to buy.
- Markdown breadth
- The share of a brand's or retailer's live products that are selling below their full price at a point in time.
- Matched-SKU inflation
- The price change of identical products observed in both periods, which isolates true price moves from changes in product mix.
- Mix shift
- The part of an average-price change explained by a change in which products are on sale, rather than by price changes on the same products.
- New-product share
- The percentage of a brand's live assortment that was first seen within a recent window, such as the last 13 weeks.
- Price architecture
- How a brand's or category's products are distributed across price tiers, such as value, mid-market, premium and luxury.
- Price gap
- The percentage difference between the price of one product or brand and a comparable alternative, such as branded versus private label.
- Price pass-through
- The share of a cost increase, such as a tariff or input-cost rise, that a company passes on to customers through higher prices.
- Private label share
- The share of a retailer's assortment in a category made up of its own-brand (private label) products.
- Promotional intensity
- How heavily a brand, retailer or category relies on discounts, combining how often products are promoted and how deep the discounts are.
- Share of shelf (online)
- A brand's share of the products a retailer lists in a category, measured on the retailer's website.
- Shrinkflation
- A price increase delivered by reducing pack size while keeping the shelf price the same or similar.
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