What eCommerce data should an analyst check before a consumer company reports earnings?
Before a consumer company reports, weekly online data can test the main debates: whether price increases held, whether promotions rose (a gross-margin risk), whether inventory looks clean, and whether the assortment is growing or shrinking. Checking these against the same fiscal weeks last year gives an independent read ahead of management commentary.
Last reviewed
The pre-earnings checklist
- 1Pricing: matched-SKU price change versus last year, by key brand and category.
- 2Promotions: markdown breadth and depth versus the same fiscal weeks last year.
- 3Inventory: full-price availability and in-stock rates as a read on clean or heavy inventory.
- 4Assortment: product count and newness, and any cuts at key wholesale partners.
- 5Channel: DTC versus wholesale pricing and discounting.
Aligning to the fiscal calendar
Retailers and brands report on fiscal calendars that rarely match calendar months. Aligning weekly data to the company's own quarter boundaries, and to the prior-year equivalent weeks, avoids reading a calendar shift as a change in trend.
Metrics used
- Matched-SKU inflation: The price change of identical products observed in both periods, which isolates true price moves from changes in product mix.
- 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.
- 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.
- Assortment count: The number of distinct products a brand or retailer has live for sale at a point in time.
- 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.
How each measure is built: methodology.
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