Each store reports on what it has sold: totals over time, what was bought, and how the period compares with the one before.
Choosing a period
Periods run from the last 90 days out to the last 36 months, and a chosen period can be set against the same period last year — which is the only honest comparison for a store with a season. A school shop measured against last month in August tells you nothing.
What to look at
| Figure | Tells you |
|---|---|
| Sales over time | The shape of the year — and when to remind the client to promote it. |
| Items purchased | What actually sells. Usually a shorter list than the store carries. |
| Order values | Whether people buy one thing or several. |
| Against last year | Whether the store is growing, once seasonality is taken out. |
Use it in the client conversation
- Quiet months are a prompt for the client to send the link again, not a sign the store failed.
- Products with no sales in a year should be retired — a shorter store sells better.
- A spike after an email tells you what actually drives orders, which is worth repeating.
THE ANNUAL REVIEW WORTH DOING
Take the last twelve months to the client once a year, with the prices, the product list and the deadlines. It is the conversation that keeps a store alive instead of quietly going stale.