How to Track Sales by Brand or Manufacturer

Understanding which brands or manufacturers drive the most revenue is crucial for inventory planning, vendor negotiations, and marketing decisions. PayHelm provides multiple ways to analyze your sales by brand, giving you the flexibility to view this data from different angles.

Understanding Brand-Level Sales Data

Brand or manufacturer attribution in PayHelm is automatically pulled from your ecommerce platform's product data. When you connect your store (Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, etc.), PayHelm syncs product attributes including vendor, manufacturer, or brand fields. This data becomes available for reporting and segmentation across all analytics features.

Method 1: Using the Dashboard View

The quickest way to see top-performing brands is through your main Dashboard:

From your Dashboard:
• Navigate to the Sales Overview section
• Look for the "Top Products" or "Product Performance" widget
• Click the dropdown menu and select "Group by Brand" or "Group by Vendor"
• The widget will update to show sales totals, order count, and revenue by brand
• You can adjust the date range using the date selector at the top of the dashboard

This view is perfect for quick checks and high-level monitoring of brand performance.

Method 2: Using the Reports Page

For more detailed brand analysis, the Reports page offers advanced filtering and customization:

Creating a Brand Sales Report:
1. Navigate to Reports from the main navigation
2. Click "Create New Report" or select "Product Sales" from the report templates
3. In the Group By section, select "Brand" or "Manufacturer" (depending on your data structure)
4. Add metrics you want to track: Revenue, Units Sold, Average Order Value, Return Rate
5. Apply filters if needed (date range, sales channel, product category)
6. Save the report for future use or export to Google Sheets

Advanced Segmentation: You can create multi-dimensional reports by adding secondary groupings:
• Brand + Sales Channel (to see which brands perform better on Amazon vs. your website)
• Brand + Product Category (to identify your strongest brand-category combinations)
• Brand + Customer Segment (to understand which brands appeal to wholesale vs. retail customers)

Method 3: Using Custom Metrics

If you need to track specific brand performance indicators that aren't available in standard reports, PayHelm's Custom Metrics feature allows you to build calculated fields:

Creating a Brand Performance Metric:
1. Go to Settings → Custom Metrics
2. Click "Create New Metric"
3. Define your calculation (e.g., "Brand Profit Margin" = (Revenue - Cost) / Revenue, filtered by brand)
4. Set the dimension to "Brand" or "Manufacturer"
5. Save and the metric will appear in all reporting tools

Common custom metrics for brand analysis include:
• Brand contribution to total revenue (%)
• Average profit margin by brand
• Return rate by brand
• Customer acquisition cost per brand

Method 4: Exporting to Google Sheets

For clients who prefer working in spreadsheets or need to combine PayHelm data with other sources:

1. Create your brand sales report using Method 2 above
2. Click the "Export" button in the top-right corner
3. Select "Export to Google Sheets"
4. Choose whether you want a one-time export or automated daily/weekly updates
5. The data will appear in your Google Sheets with brand as rows and your selected metrics as columns

This allows you to:
• Create custom pivot tables
• Build branded presentations
• Combine with data from other systems
• Share with team members who don't have PayHelm access

Understanding Your Data

How brands are identified: PayHelm uses the vendor, manufacturer, or brand field from your ecommerce platform. If products don't have this field populated:
• The product will appear as "Unassigned" or "No Brand"
• You can update product data in your ecommerce platform and it will sync within 1-4 hours
• Contact your ecommerce platform support if you need help bulk-updating product brand information

Data accuracy:
• Sales data includes all completed orders (excludes cancelled and refunded orders by default)
• You can include or exclude refunds/returns using the report filters
• Revenue figures are after discounts but before taxes and shipping (unless configured otherwise in Settings)

Best Practices

For effective brand analysis:
• Set up consistent brand naming in your ecommerce platform (avoid variations like "Nike" vs "NIKE" vs "Nike Inc")
• Review brand performance weekly or monthly to identify trends early
• Compare brand performance across different time periods to spot seasonal patterns
• Use brand data to inform inventory purchasing decisions and marketing budget allocation
• Create alerts for underperforming brands to address issues quickly

Troubleshooting

If you're not seeing brand data:
• Verify that your products have the brand/vendor/manufacturer field populated in your ecommerce platform
• Check that your data sync is running successfully (Settings → Integrations)
• Allow 1-4 hours after making changes in your ecommerce platform for data to refresh
• If brand appears as a blank or "Unassigned", update the product information in your source platform

Next Steps

Once you're comfortable tracking sales by brand, consider:
• Setting up automated reports to email brand performance weekly
• Creating custom metrics for brand-specific KPIs relevant to your business
• Using brand insights to negotiate better terms with your top-performing vendors
• Analyzing brand performance alongside advertising spend to calculate brand-level ROAS