Vendor Analysis

Modified on Mon, 3 Jun at 2:42 PM

The Vendor Analysis dashboard is a combination of widgets: Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), focused metric tables and graphic displays of your data. The data displayed on the dashboard is intended to show you sales & margin data in combination with your current on hand positions. The quantities sold, received and on hand are reflected in the KPIs as a high level total, and in the tables with product category details, depending on how you filter the dashboard. You will see your sales & margin metrics in a similar fashion. You will want to pay attention to both the sales dollars and quantity sold to understand which vendors are performing well in terms of margin and at what volume.

The filters on the dashboard allow you to analyze the data by specific vendors, or by choosing product categories and seeing which vendors are involved. You are able to narrow the data to specific stores as well. There are two dates in the filter section - the Review Date controls most of this dashboard, while the Comp Date allows you to control the period for Received units in the pivot table at the bottom (it is noted as such in the column heading).

It is important to note that the data considered begins with the date on the heading panel of the dashboard, under Earliest Transaction Date. This means that your trends and filtered data will start with the transactions on this date.

You will see a link to this document in the top of the dashboard, under the heading Dashboard Help.

KPIs

At the top of the dashboard, a selection of KPIs that respond to the "Review Date" give you a high level look at the vendors and product groupings you have selected in the filters. These are fairly self-explanatory and can be used for a quick glance to confirm or challenge your assumptions.

The second row of metrics will show you how the filtered vendors & product groupings you choose compare with all vendors. You might, for example, want to see a single vendor as a % to all vendors - or you might want to see how a vendor for a specific product grouping compares. The percentage will calculate based on all the dashboard filters, versus all vendors for the same filters.

Graphic Displays

The next graphics illustrate the top 25 vendors, based on sales dollars (as of the Review Date filter). If you filter the dashboard to a specific vendor, that filter will not affect this graphic since it is showing the top 25 - however, if you choose specific product groupings, you will see the top 25 vendors for the groupings you selected. In this graphic be sure to pay attention to both the sales dollars and the volume of units that you sell - these are both important in determining the actions you take on this data. Hover over the marks to see the vendor name and associated metrics. In the legend of the graphic, you can toggle vendors on & off by clicking on the names - this can help bring the graphic into sharper focus when you have a dominant vendor included.

The graphics to the right of the scatter chart show you, by store, how your selected vendors & product groupings compare with all vendors in those same product groupings. You may want to see, for example, how a particular product grouping performs after making a merchandising shift in a few stores - how did that grouping perform last month (change the Review Date) & has it changed measurably this month? Do certain stores routinely outperform others for this grouping - how do those stores merchandise the product, and do the store associates promote it better? What can you gain from this information that can help boost sales in other locations?

The trend line graphic is sectioned in weeks, and will show you, again, for the filtered data that you choose the trends of each store. Do certain vendors perform best seasonally? Are you maybe considering a new vendor and want to see when sales begin to pickup for the product grouping? Are certain geographic locations better suited to one product grouping over another - or could you help boost sales in an area by offering an incentive or advertising blitz for some name recognition? By using the filters and watching your trends, you may be able to boost sales with some simple efforts.

The next section will show you both graphically and in a pivot chart, how each of your stores compare with units received, sold and your current on hand positions. You may want to see how certain locations compare, say if they are in similar geographic, or demographic areas. Maybe you've added a new product grouping, or vendor and you want to see how your entire chain compares in recent sales or current on hand - sometimes it can be easier to spot anomalies or patterns in a graphic than with a simple chart of numbers. Here you can see the table of numbers directly next to the graphic - note that the columns can be sorted by hovering on the column headings and using the up and down arrows.

The pivot table at the bottom will respond to the dashboard filters, using Review Date for all the values except the column where Comp Date is noted - that column uses the second date filter, which allows you the flexibility to choose any time period for that value, whether it be year-to-date or some relative time period. The table can be set to show each vendor (as filtered) and within that, each of the product groupings and stores. You may be interested in a higher level table of only vendors, or only the primary category, for example - by right clicking in the header area, you can add or remove various fields. As you remove fields, the table will compact, and as you add them back, the table will expand.

Any of the data tables can be exported to work with the data outside the dashboard. Do this by clicking on the 3 dots at the top right corner of the widget, choose Download and export an image or file. The recommended file type for a spreadsheet is CSV.