Blog · Board and management reporting · FMCG and CPG brands
The ten sales KPIs a consumer goods brand should run on, each with its formula, the export it comes from and what it tells you: distribution and range penetration by channel, distribution voids, sell-in against sell-out, weeks of cover at the retailer, out-of-stocks inferred from sell-out gaps, promotional net lift, trade spend return, retailer chargebacks by reason, OTIF under each retailer's rule, and rate of sale per store. Also the three measures most brands miss, the figures to drop, the identities, and who owns what.
A brand sells to retailers, who sell to shoppers, and sees the first clearly and the second only through data somebody else holds. The measures that matter connect the two: what is ranged where, what is actually selling, what promotions really added, and what retailers charged back.
| # | Measure | Formula | Export | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Range penetration by channel | Stores ranging the SKU ÷ stores in the channel that should, by the channel's own core range | Store list; sell-out data | Whether the agreed range is on the shelf |
| 2 | Distribution voids | Stores where similar stores sell the SKU and this one does not, valued at the median rate of sale | Sell-out data; store attributes | The list of store and SKU gaps worth closing |
| 3 | Sell-in against sell-out | Units shipped − units sold through, cumulative, per retailer | Shipment ledger; sell-out data | Inventory building or draining in the channel |
| 4 | Weeks of cover at the retailer | Estimated retailer inventory ÷ average weekly sell-out | Shipments; sell-out; opening stock | Whether the next order will be large or small |
| 5 | Inferred out-of-stocks | Store-days with zero sales where the SKU normally sells and similar stores sold | Daily sell-out by store | Lost sales at the shelf, by store and SKU |
| 6 | Promotional net lift | Promo units − baseline − post-promo dip, per account, against the account's own baseline | Sell-out; promotions calendar | What a promotion really added |
| 7 | Return on trade spend | Net lift margin ÷ trade spend on the event | Net lift; deductions and promo funding | Which events pay for themselves |
| 8 | Chargebacks by retailer and reason | Deductions by reason code ÷ sales, per retailer; disputed and recovered | Deductions file | Process failures billed as penalties |
| 9 | OTIF under the retailer's rule | Orders on time and in full by the retailer's definition ÷ orders | Order and delivery files; retailer terms | The score the retailer sees, not the one the brand reports |
| 10 | Rate of sale | Units per store per week, for stores ranging the SKU | Sell-out; store list | Performance independent of distribution |
Every one of these is computed per account, per retailer and account manager, and in total, and every one carries an identity that must hold before the table is shown.
Net lift. Most promotion reviews stop at the uplift in the promotional weeks and never subtract the dip.
Sell-in against sell-out. The sales team is paid on sell-in and the data for sell-out sits in another team.
Chargebacks by reason. Treated as a finance line. Sorted by reason, most trace to a few fixable causes: labelling, appointment times, advance ship notices.
A two-week promotion at one retailer sold 9,600 units against a baseline of 3,000 a week: gross lift of 3,600 units, 60 percent. In the three weeks after, sales ran at 2,400 a week, 1,800 units below baseline in total. Net lift is 1,800 units, 30 percent. At a margin of $1.10 a unit after the discount, that is $1,980 against trade funding of $4,500.
Sell-in revenue against last month. Driven by retailer ordering patterns and promotions, not by demand.
Number of stores ranged, without rate of sale. Distribution that does not sell gets delisted.
Gross promotional uplift. It always looks good.
| Table | Must hold |
|---|---|
| Sell-in and sell-out | Opening retailer stock + sell-in − sell-out = closing stock |
| Net lift | Promo units = baseline + gross lift; net lift = gross lift − post-promo dip |
| Chargebacks | Deductions = valid + disputed open + recovered + written off |
| OTIF | Orders = OTIF + late only + short only + both |
A table whose identity fails is a table with a row missing or counted twice. It is not shown until it is fixed.
| Measure | Owner | Reviewed |
|---|---|---|
| Inferred out-of-stocks; distribution voids | Account managers; field sales | Weekly |
| Sell-in against sell-out; weeks of cover; OTIF | Account managers with supply planning | Weekly to monthly |
| Net lift; return on trade spend | Commercial director; revenue management | After each event; quarterly |
| Chargebacks by reason | Customer service and logistics, with finance | Monthly |
A measure with no owner is a metric, not a KPI; see KPI versus metric versus measure.
Ten measures that join what the brand ships to what shoppers buy. Net lift, the sell-in and sell-out gap, and chargebacks by reason are where the money usually is. Covirage computes all of them from the exports brands already produce, files only, with the definitions stated and the identities checked. See Covirage for CPG brands.
Sell-in is what the brand ships to the retailer or distributor; sell-out is what shoppers buy. When sell-in runs ahead of sell-out, inventory is building in the channel, and the next orders will be smaller however good the quarter looked. Tracking the two together, per retailer, turns a surprise into a forecast.
Gross lift compares promotional weeks with the baseline. Net lift also subtracts the dip in the weeks after, when shoppers and retailers work through what they stocked up on. A promotion with 60 percent gross lift and a deep dip can be worth a third of that, before the cost of the discount.
From sell-out gaps. A product that sells every day in a store and then records zero for three days, while selling normally in similar stores, was almost certainly off the shelf. The inference is labelled as such, and it is usually the only store-level signal a brand can get.