Mega-Metrics: Merchandise Profitability And The Item Resume

An area of opportunity for the Business Intelligence community is in assessing merchandise profitability. Here's a sample profit and loss statement for an item during the 1st quarter of 2009, what I call the "Item Resume".

Quarterly Merchandise Profit And Loss Statement
Demand	$8,000
Fulfillment Rate	90.0%
Return Rate	25.0%
Net Sales Percentage	67.5%
Net Sales	$5,400
Gross Margin Percentage	55.0%
Gross Margin	$2,970
Less Catalog Expense	$1,150
Less Paid Search Expense	$250
Less E-Mail Mkt. Expense	$50
Less Affiliate Mkt. Expense	$100
Less Portal Adv. Expense	$200
Less Pick/Pack/Ship	$621
Variable Operating Profit	$599
% Of Net Sales	11.1%
Ad To Sales Ratio	32.4%
% Of Demand: New Buyers	47.0%
% Of Demand: Organic, Non-Advertising	33.0%
% Of Demand: Repeat Item Buyers	29.0%
% Of Demand: Online	62.0%

Now this isn't just one mega-metric, but rather, a compilation of numerous mega-metrics. Our job is to evaluate the item resume.

Is the item profitable?

Does the item generate demand organically, or is the item dependent upon advertising to generate sales?

Does fulfillment rate or return rate hurt the profitability of the item?

Does the item recruit new customers?

Do prior item buyers purchase the item again?

This style of reporting is sorely missing in our KPI / Dashboard / Customer-Centricity / Conversion-Rate / Shopping Cart Abandoned world. Show me the last time you've read an article that featured this style of reporting? Now, tell me what your merchandising team would think of this reporting ... would they be able to make better decisions?