Short answer
Ask for it when you open the account, and find out where it lives. Most department stores and online retailers share sell-out data, through a supplier portal, EDI, or Excel and PDF files by email, usually weekly or monthly. Hypermarkets rarely do. Some retailers only share it on request, and some charge for it.
Which retailers share sell-out data?
| Type of retailer | Do they share it? | Usual format |
|---|---|---|
| Online retailers | Yes, often in detail | Supplier portal |
| Department stores | Usually | Portal, EDI, or Excel by email |
| Hypermarkets | Rarely | Out of date, when shared at all |
In my experience, reports come weekly or monthly. Some French department stores are slower. Amazon gave us the most complete data, sometimes more than we could use.
How do you get it?
- Ask when you open the account, before the first order. Put it in your agreement if you can.
- Find where it lives: a portal login, an EDI sales report, or a named contact who emails the files.
- Agree what you need: units and value, store level or total, and stock in store.
- Name an owner in your team, so the reports are read every week.
- If a retailer will not share it, ask the buyer what is possible. Sometimes the only way is to pay for it.
What do the raw files look like?
Hard to use. Each retailer uses its own product categories, its own language, and store codes instead of store names. Every line has to be matched to your EAN or SKU before you can compare one retailer with another.
In my experience, it takes about one full-time person per team just to clean the data. The hardest part is building a database the team can search over time, not just a file for the Monday meeting.
From the field
Sell-out data drove our range decisions. A strong product unlocked new colours and new shapes. It gave us data we could rarely get ourselves, from shoppers we could not reach on our own.
Used well, it is very powerful. It is simply too hard to analyse today.
From a European fashion brand
Where Gatsbee fits
Gatsbee reads sell-out data from retailer portals, EDI and email, in Excel, CSV or PDF, matches every line to your products and delivers one consistent report. Which sell-out formats Gatsbee reads.
Questions
How often do retailers send sell-out reports?
Usually weekly or monthly. Some retailers are slower, and the data can arrive some time after the sales it covers.
Do retailers charge for sell-out data?
Some do, for more detailed data. Most department stores and online retailers share standard sales reports with their suppliers.
Who should own sell-out data in a brand?
Planning, as they own the range and the price points. Sales should use it every week to trade in season, and finance uses it as an output.
Alexis
Co-founder, Gatsbee
15 years in wholesale. Former CEO of a European lingerie brand selling to retailers across the UK, France and Germany.
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