Amazon, and other large eCommerce sites like eBay and Walmart, can be a fantastic resource for small to medium businesses looking to expand fast. In a matter of days, they can set up a seller account and shopfront, market and advertise their product offerings, and set up sales and distribution. When it works, success on the Amazon platform can be stellar. According to the site’s own report on SMB success:
- SMB sellers racked up an average of $200K in sales.
- There were more than 3.8 billion products sold.
- US sellers made more than $2.2 billion in export sales.
However, although Amazon will deliver metrics for its sellers, getting a handle on your competitors, market and sector performance, pricing strategies and other useful data can be difficult. Obviously much of this information is proprietary, but it is possible to determine Amazon sales volumes and glean valuable insight from Amazon sales ranks and other open source information.
How can this be achieved? That’s where Amazon Sales Estimators come in.
What is an Amazon Sales Estimator?
An Amazon Sales Estimator is an algorithmic method for determining the probable sales of any item available on the site. By combining information that the platform makes available (Amazon sales rank, ASIN number, price data) with open-source data and known sales figures, the Amazon sales estimator (or Amazon Sales Calculator) can provide a close estimate of how many units are currently being sold.
These figures can be broken down by region, tracked over time, and prices can be monitored, even when dynamic pricing (with hour-by-hour changes) is being implemented. Here are just some of the benefits of using an Amazon sales estimator to glean insights:
- Gain a better sense of how the market for your product is performing. You can aggregate similar products to present a picture of the size of the marketplace overall.
- Track similar competitor products for pricing data. Want to make sure your prices are competitive? It’s tough to monitor the competition manually but with an Amazon sales calculator, the process is automated for you.
- Track competitor product sales for units sold in various territories. Find out where to focus your marketing campaigns. Should you be looking to overseas sales, or concentrating on US and Canadian markets? You may spot a gap in the market, where a territory is currently being underserved.
- Track a similar product to provide sales forecasts. If you want to more accurately predict how a new product will sell, it helps to have a baseline. Look to similar products for a guide to where you might end up.
- Maintain better inventory. Avoid over- or under-stocking by monitoring demand levels across the marketplace.
These are just five of the reasons why you might want to use an Amazon sales estimator like Algopix to gain seller insight. The biggest quandary for new online sellers is not having enough market and competitor intelligence. Algopix fills that vital gap, making your decisions more informed and your predictions much more accurate.
How does the Amazon Sales Calculator work?
Amazon does provide certain key pieces of information, and that’s where Algopix starts. From Amazon’s platform you can obtain:
- ASIN – Amazon’s unique product identifier code (vital for tracking)
- UPC – A unique 12-digit barcode format product code used by Amazon.
- EAN – a European variant of UPC barcode format, with 12 or 13 numbers. [we offer a free convertor if you know one of the above but not the other]
- ISBN – the worldwide standard identification code for books (remember Amazon began as an online bookseller back in 1995!)
- Amazon Sales Rank – this is the key that unlocks the real value of sales analysis.
Algopix is a tool which uses the power of data mining, statistical analysis, and algorithmic calculation to turn an Amazon Sales Rank into a true indicator of sales.
While there are free online tools which claim to do this, their algorithms present only a crude approximation. They don’t allow for price fluctuations, the mis-categorization of products and other idiosyncrasies of the Amazon sales rank function. Crucially, they don’t allow you to track Amazon sales histories or compare territories.
So how exactly does Amazon calculate sales rank? Also known as Best Sellers Rank or BSR, the Amazon Sales Rank is based upon detailed product specification. It is perhaps clearest to understand this for book sales. Let’s take a best-seller – Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig.
At time of writing, Pirsig’s pop-philosophy and travel best-seller from 1974 is ranked thus (we’ve taken the most popular of three available editions in English):
- #2 in Budget Travel Guides
- #4 in Zen Philosophy
- #7 in Travelogues and Travel Essays
- #3619 in Books
As you can see, the book is still a top-10 best-seller in various categories and ranks highly in books overall. These rankings are based on verified Amazon per unit sales.
As you get more and more specific with your product categorization, your product ranks more highly, because there are simply less items with that unique set of qualities. This can be a great marketing tool (get niche enough and almost every book’s a best seller).
The same principles apply to anything on sale on Amazon, whether it’s socks, vacuum cleaners, or Ariana Grande CDs. Clearly, you want to aim for your own products to have as low an Amazon sales rank, or BSR as possible.
How to use the Amazon Sales Calculator
Once you have subscribed to Algopix (or signed up for a free trial), you’ll have powerful tools at your fingertips, including the Amazon Sales Calculator. Here’s how to use it:
Before you start your product searches, you’ll need the following information to hand:
- The product’s unique identifier (ASIN, UPC, EAN or ISBN code from Amazon)
- The cost for this item from a supplier (this can be an estimate)
- The territories you’re interested in covering
You can also add optional filters including shipping location, condition, and fulfillment options.
These will be input in the relevant fields below:
Note that condition, fulfillment options and other filters are available on dropdowns by clicking where you see 
Once you enter the relevant information and hit 
It will return the following information in an easy to interpret dashboard:
- The market with the highest profit opportunity and average profit in that market.
- The product’s demand level (low, medium, or high).
- Typical shipping and fulfillment expenses.
- Average profit you’ll make across all markets, per unit.
- Whether the item is recommended for selling or not.
- ASIN and AID codes (the latter is Algopix’s unique identifier).
- Product dimensions and shipping dimensions.
Beneath this topline information, there will be a detailed breakdown by region:
Useful data includes whether the likely profit margin is low or high, and the product’s current demand status. You’ll also get key insights (in the rightmost column) about whether there is competition from overseas and whether even low-ranked sellers are stocking this item (suggesting that it’s a popular one).
Next, Algopix will display insights into the last 30 days’ sales figures for this item, across different suppliers in multiple regions (mainly Amazon and eBay):
Where you see this icon, you’ll be able to click on it for information sourced from major suppliers including Alibaba and others.
You’ll also see a summary of the estimated monthly revenue you might expect from this product, segregated by sales platform:
At the very bottom of the dashboard, you’ll see similar items listed, giving you further suggestions for related inventory.
Algopix: The Best Performing Amazon Sales Estimator Tool
For accurate, insightful sales insights, Algopix’s Amazon Sales Calculator is second to none. Why not give it a FREE TRIAL today (you can use it for seven days, for up to ten searches per day, at no cost).
