How 1P brands can cut through metrics noise

Why 1P Reporting Feels Overwhelming Today

Amazon 1P brands have more data than ever before. Between Vendor Central, Sponsored Ads, DSP, and increasingly Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC), reporting has become expansive—and fragmented.

Yet despite this surge in data availability, many 1P teams struggle with a fundamental challenge:

Turning data into confident business decisions.

According to Tom Jakab, Director of Analytics at Intentwise, the issue is rarely a lack of data. The issue is clarity.

When leadership asks a simple question—
“Are we actually winning on Amazon right now?”
—teams often respond with more dashboards instead of a clear answer.

This webinar focuses on simplifying Amazon 1P analytics so that decisions become easier, not harder.

The Real Cost of Metrics Noise

Most 1P organizations track dozens of performance metrics, including:

• Click-through rate (CTR)
• CPC and ROAS
• New-to-brand metrics
• In-stock rates
• Net PPM and margins
• Forecast accuracy
• Attribution and incrementality

These are not bad metrics. In fact, they are essential for day-to-day operators.

The problem arises when tactical metrics are elevated to executive conversations without context.

This creates internal friction:

• Retail teams may say revenue is up
• Media teams may report declining efficiency
• Finance may highlight margin erosion
• Supply chain may flag inventory risks

Everyone is technically correct. Yet decisions stall.

This is not a reporting problem.
It’s a decision problem.

Decision-First Analytics for Amazon 1P Brands

Most analytics workflows begin with:

“What happened this week?”

High-performing 1P teams flip that approach. They begin with:

• Should we push growth?
• Should we reduce advertising spend?
• Should we scale specific ASINs?
• Should we retime promotions?
• Should we reallocate inventory?

Only after defining the decision do they determine which metrics matter.

If a metric does not influence a real decision, it becomes noise at the executive level.

Why 1P Teams Struggle to Simplify Reporting

Several structural challenges contribute to metrics overload:

1. Conflicting Retail and Media Signals

Vendor Central and Amazon Ads often tell different stories. When these signals don’t reconcile, cross-functional decisions slow down.

2. Reactive Workflows

Teams spend more time explaining anomalies than preventing them. Weekly reporting becomes a cycle of troubleshooting instead of proactive strategy.

3. Fragmented Data Systems

Data lives across:

• Vendor Central
• Ads Console
• Internal spreadsheets
• BI tools

Without a unified view, clarity becomes difficult.

4. Complex 1P Account Structures

Multiple vendor codes, brands, categories, and ad accounts make even basic performance questions harder than they should be.

5. No Shared Definition of Success

Retail, media, and finance teams often optimize toward different KPIs, creating misalignment.

The result: more reporting, less clarity.

The Four Foundational Signals Every 1P Brand Needs

Tom outlines a minimum viable analytics foundation—a four-legged stool. If any one component is weak, decision-making becomes unstable.

1. Sales & Demand Health

This answers:
Is growth real or rented?

Demand health includes:

• Traffic (organic and paid)
• Conversion rate
• Sales velocity
• Order patterns

“Rented growth” may come from:

• Heavy promotions
• Temporary price reductions
• Aggressive ad spend spikes

True growth is sustainable and consistent without artificial short-term boosts.

2. Media Efficiency

This answers:
Does spend still make business sense?

Key signals include:

• ROAS (in context of profitability)
• Spend trends
• Contribution to incremental growth

Media efficiency must be evaluated alongside retail performance—not in isolation.

3. Inventory Risk

Inventory can quietly undermine performance.

Low stock levels distort demand signals, suppress rankings, and reduce media efficiency.

For 1P brands, monitoring:

• In-stock rates
• Weeks of cover
• Order cadence

is critical to interpreting performance accurately.

4. Profitability

ROAS can look strong while profit deteriorates.

For 1P brands especially, understanding:

• Net PPM
• Contribution margins
• ASIN-level profitability

is essential before scaling spend.

Profitability determines which ASINs deserve investment—and which drain resources.

The Amazon 1P Analytics Maturity Curve

Most brands move through these stages:

1. Reporting Chaos
   Multiple data sources, manual spreadsheets, conflicting signals.
2. Structured Visibility
   Automated data consolidation across retail and media.
3. Decision-Driven Analytics
   Proactive anomaly detection, unified signals, profit-aware growth.
4. Advanced Measurement (AMC & Incrementality)
   Sophisticated shopper insights layered on top of a stable foundation.

Advanced tools like Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC) should sit on top of solid fundamentals. Without foundational clarity, advanced measurement risks reinforcing bad decisions.

Executive Metrics vs Operator Metrics

A practical test for leadership-level metrics:

Does this metric change a decision?

If it helps optimize daily performance, it belongs with operators.

If it drives strategic choices about growth, budget, inventory, or product focus, it belongs in executive reporting.

Fewer metrics does not mean less rigor.
It means better alignment.

Managing Complexity in Multi-Brand Vendor Central Accounts

For organizations with multiple brands and vendor codes under one Vendor Central account:

• Do not force everything into a single number.
• Reconcile performance into a unified executive view.
• Maintain operational detail beneath that layer.

Leadership needs a simplified narrative, even if the underlying structure is complex.

Proactive Anomaly Detection

Instead of discovering issues after revenue declines, proactive systems can:

• Flag buy box loss
• Detect sudden sales drops
• Surface traffic shifts
• Identify unusual performance spikes

Reducing the time between signal and action improves decision velocity and protects profitability.

Where AMC Fits In

Amazon Marketing Cloud is powerful—but it should not replace foundational clarity.

If sales health, media efficiency, inventory risk, and profitability are not aligned, AMC insights can add complexity instead of clarity.

Advanced measurement works best when foundational signals are stable.

Key Takeaways for 1P Brands

• More metrics do not equal better decisions.
• Tactical metrics should not dominate executive conversations.
• Decision-first analytics simplifies reporting.
• Four foundational signals create stability:
  • Sales & demand health
  • Media efficiency
  • Inventory risk
  • Profitability
• AMC and advanced measurement should sit on top of strong fundamentals.

Clear signals lead to faster decisions, stronger alignment, and more confident growth on Amazon.

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