What is the difference between Sell-In and Sell-Out reporting?

In MerchantSpring, Sell-In and Sell-Out reporting represent two different parts of the Amazon Vendor Central supply chain.

Understanding the difference is critical because these metrics answer very different business questions.

What is Sell-In?

Sell-In refers to:

What Amazon purchases from you as a vendor

This is based on:

• Purchase Orders (POs)
• Wholesale inventory supplied to Amazon

In other words:

• Amazon is your customer
• Sell-In measures what Amazon buys from your business

Sell-In Examples

Sell-In reporting may include:

• Purchase Orders
• Ordered units
• Ordered cost of goods sold (COGS)
• Vendor shipment data
• Amazon procurement activity

What Sell-In Helps You Analyse

Sell-In is useful for understanding:

• Amazon buying behaviour
• Vendor demand trends
• Supply chain performance
• PO volume and forecasting
• Vendor operational performance

What is Sell-Out?

Sell-Out refers to:

What Amazon sells to the end customer

This is based on:

• Customer-facing retail activity
• Amazon retail sales performance

In other words:

• Amazon is acting as the retailer
• Sell-Out measures consumer demand

Sell-Out Examples

Sell-Out reporting may include:

• Shipped revenue
• Shipped units
• Traffic and conversion
• Retail sales trends
• Product-level retail performance

What Sell-Out Helps You Analyse

Sell-Out is useful for understanding:

• Consumer demand
• Retail performance
• Product sales trends
• Conversion and traffic
• Advertising effectiveness
• Market performance

Simple Analogy

Why the Numbers Often Don’t Match

Sell-In and Sell-Out metrics will rarely align perfectly because:

• Amazon may:
  • Buy inventory now
  • Sell it later
• Amazon may:
  • Hold inventory
  • Overstock inventory
  • Understock inventory
• Timing differences exist between:
  • Purchase Orders
  • Customer shipments

How MerchantSpring Uses These Views

MerchantSpring supports both perspectives to provide a more complete Vendor Central analysis.

Examples include:

• Sell-In profitability
• Sell-Out profitability
• Purchase Order analysis
• Retail Analytics
• Inventory health
• Sourcing Share analysis

Notes

• Sell-Out is generally considered more reflective of actual customer demand
• Sell-In may fluctuate based on Amazon inventory strategies and purchasing behaviour