Statistics by Supplier: Who Are You Making Money From?

Most online store owners know their total revenue by heart. Far fewer can say how much of that revenue comes from each individual supplier. And that’s exactly the figure you need when negotiating purchase prices, renewing contracts, or assessing how vulnerable your store is if a single supplier raises prices or goes out of business.

The “Suppliers” page under “Statistics” compiles this information for you. For any period you choose, it shows how many orders and units each supplier has accounted for, what that amounts to in revenue (excluding VAT), and what percentage of your total revenue the supplier represents.

How to find the page

Go to Statistics and select Suppliers from the menu on the left. There are two menu items with that name: under “Products,” you can create and edit the suppliers themselves, and under “Statistics,” you can view the sales figures. If you haven’t created any suppliers yet, start with the Shoporama supplier setup guide.

Only products with a supplier are included

The statistics are based exclusively on products where the Supplier field is filled in the product’s master data. If you have 100 products but have only assigned a supplier to 15 of them, the page will only show sales for those 15. The rest do not appear at all—not even as a “remainder” or a line labeled “unknown.”

This is by far the most common reason why the numbers look suspiciously low, or why the message “No suppliers with sales in the selected period” appears, even though the store is running smoothly. You can add the supplier on the product page under Products, All Products. If it’s missing from many items, you can handle it all at once using bulk editing or product import.

The four key metrics at the top

• Revenue excl. tax (Total supplier revenue). All line items from products with a supplier, excluding tax and in the store’s currency.
• Number of orders (Paid orders during the period). The total number of orders across all suppliers.
• Suppliers with sales (in the selected period). Suppliers with no sales are not displayed.
• Average order value (excl. VAT per order). Revenue divided by the number of orders shown in the table next to it.

Please note regarding Number of orders: Orders are counted per supplier, and the total is the sum of the rows. An order containing items from three suppliers is counted in all three rows and thus three times in the total. The number in each row is correct, but the total should be interpreted as the number of supplier orders, not the number of physical packages. If you need the store’s actual number of orders, you’ll find it in the order overview. For the same reason, “Avg. Order Value” is an average across suppliers and not the store’s actual average order value, which also includes shipping costs.

The table, column by column

The table is sorted by revenue, so the largest supplier appears at the top. If you click on “Column Explanation” at the bottom of the page, Shoporama’s own explanation expands:

• Supplier. The name, which is also a link. More on this in the section on contribution margin.
• Orders. The number of paid orders containing products from this supplier.
• Products Sold. Total number of units sold—that is, pieces, not kroner.
• Revenue excl. tax. Revenue excluding tax for the supplier’s products. This is the figure you can compare to your purchase prices.
• Share. The supplier’s share of total supplier revenue. A high concentration on a single supplier can be a risk.
• Average order value. Average revenue excluding VAT per order for this specific supplier.

At the bottom is a “Total” row. If more than one supplier has had sales, a horizontal bar chart is also displayed showing the top ten suppliers ranked by revenue. If a supplier has been deleted, the name is crossed out and no longer linked, so the history is preserved even if you clean up the supplier list.

The period you’re viewing

When you open the page, the current calendar year is displayed—that is, January 1 through December 31 of this year. The shortcut buttons cover the most commonly used periods: This Month, Last Month, Last 3 Months, Last 12 Months, This Year, and Last Year.

The shortcuts do not correspond to exact calendar months. They count back a certain number of days and then round up to whole months, so the period is usually broader than the name suggests:

• "This Month " runs from the 1st of the month through today, not to the last day of the month.
• "Last Month " is based on the date 30 days ago. If you’re viewing this on the 31st of a month, the button will therefore take you to the month you’re already in.
• "Last 3 months" starts on the 1st of the month that was 90 days ago and ends on the last day of the current month. This typically spans four calendar months.
• "Last 12 months" works the same way with 365 days and typically covers thirteen calendar months.
• "This Year " and "Last Year " are the only ones that are exact, covering January 1 through December 31.

Therefore, always check the Start Date and End Date afterward so you know what the numbers cover. If you need to compare two periods precisely, enter the dates yourself and click Show Period. Please note that the end date is rounded up to the last day of the month if you select the 29th, 30th, or 31st. Both dates are included, and the period is based on the order date—that is, when the order was placed—not when you shipped it or received payment.

Which orders are included?

The figures are based on paid orders with the status New, In Progress, Pending, Ready, Ready for Pickup, Picked Up, or Shipped, and only on the actual line items calculated excluding VAT. The following are not included:

• Unpaid orders, canceled orders, and orders with the status “Credit Memo.” If you delete an order, it is also removed from the figures.
• Credit memos and return orders. The figures represent gross sales, with returns not deducted. You can view returned items instead under Statistics, Returned Items.
• Shipping, fees, and deposits that do not belong to a supplier.
• Discounts from a discount code applied to the entire order. The item lines show the price the customer paid for the item, including any promotional price, but an order discount is not deducted.

If you sell bundle packages, both the package and the items it contains are counted as sold units. The price is listed for the bundle itself, while the individual items are listed at 0 DKK. If they belong to another supplier, that supplier may therefore appear with units and orders, but without revenue.

What about the contribution margin?

The supplier page shows revenue, not contribution margin. It knows your selling price but does not subtract the cost price. If you want to know what you’re actually earning from a supplier, you’re just one click away: click on the supplier’s name in the table. This opens the “Products Sold” report with that specific supplier and the same time period preselected, and here you’ll see a key figure for Contribution Margin plus the “CM/Margin” column per product—that is, revenue excluding VAT minus cost of goods sold.

And here’s the crucial requirement: contribution margin can only be calculated for products for which you’ve entered a cost price. If the cost price is missing, the product’s contribution margin is displayed as “-”, and the product isn’t included in the total at all. That’s why it also says “Only products with a cost price” below the figure. If you’ve entered a cost price for only half of your items, your contribution margin will appear artificially low, even though the revenue is correct. This isn’t an error in the figure, but a gap in your master data.

Cost prices are always entered excluding VAT and are never shown to your customers. You enter them in three places:

1. For each individual product in the “Cost Price Excl. VAT” field.
2. Per variant in the variant overview, in the “Cost Price” column. If the variant has its own cost price, that is used instead of the product’s.
3. Collectively under Inventory, Cost Prices, where the Missing Cost Price tab shows exactly which items are missing. The Save Cost Prices button updates the profit margin statistics immediately.

If you want the full background on cost prices and inventory value, read “Cost Prices and Inventory Value.”

Download the data as a CSV

The CSV button in the top right corner downloads the table as a file for Excel, Numbers, or Google Sheets. The file contains data for the exact period you’ve selected, the same six columns, and a total row at the bottom. It is semicolon-separated and formatted so that Danish characters and numbers are displayed correctly, while the column headers are in English. If you need figures at the product level, you can export sales data from the product overview.

How to Interpret the Numbers

• Look for concentration risk. If a single supplier accounts for a very large portion of your revenue, you’re vulnerable to price increases and delivery failures. This may well be a deliberate choice, but it should be a choice.
• Go into negotiations with the numbers in hand. Select “Last 12 Months” and download the CSV file. “We’ve sold 1,240 units and generated X DKK in revenue (excl. VAT) from your products” carries more weight than a vague impression, and the number of units is often the strongest argument for a better purchase price or free shipping.
• Compare two years. Select “This Year” and then “Last Year,” and note the revenue and share for your top ten products. A supplier whose performance has declined for two years in a row is one you should reevaluate before restocking the shelves.
• Identify the products that take up more space in your inventory than they generate in revenue. Many products but low revenue mean you’re paying for shelf space and tied-up inventory without getting enough in return. Combine this with the “Unsold Products” report.
• Check the profit margin before making any decisions. A supplier with lower sales but a significantly better contribution margin may be the best one to focus on. You can do the same analysis for brands and product lines.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the revenue here lower than in my monthly revenue?

Because the two pages measure different things. The supplier page counts only line items from products with a specific supplier, excluding VAT, shipping, and fees, and without deductions for returns. Monthly revenue counts the entire order. If the difference is very large, it typically means that a supplier is missing for a large portion of the product range.

Can I use these figures directly in my accounting?

No, this is a sales overview and not an accounting document. The figures do not include shipping, fees, returns, credit memos, or discount codes at the order level. To reconcile the figures, you’ll need to use your accounting software and your order summary.

Does the page show what I’ve purchased from the supplier?

No. It shows what you’ve sold from the supplier’s products in your store, not what you’ve purchased from them. You can find the value of your current inventory under Inventory Statistics and on the Cost Prices page, where the inventory value is based on the cost price of the items.

Why doesn’t “Number of Orders” match my order list?

Because orders are counted by supplier. An order containing items from three suppliers counts as 3, and an order that only contains items without a supplier isn’t counted at all. Use the order overview when you need the actual number of orders.

What exactly does the “Share” column mean?

It shows what percentage of the period’s total supplier revenue each individual supplier accounts for. If only one supplier has made sales, it will show 100 percent, even if the store has also sold other items. The percentage is therefore calculated solely based on the data in the table itself.

I’m adding a supplier for the first time now. Will the old orders be included?

Yes. The statistics use the supplier currently listed for the product and recalculate the history from the beginning every time you open the page. So if you set the supplier today, last year’s sales will also appear. Conversely, the product’s entire history will transfer over if you later switch the product to a different supplier.

I have variants, each with its own purchase price. Which cost price is used?

When you click through to the contribution margin, the variant’s own cost price is used if it’s entered for the sold variant. If it isn’t, the calculation falls back on the product’s standard cost price. If neither is entered, the contribution margin is displayed as “-”.

Can my customers see any of this?

No. The statistics are only available in the admin panel, and cost prices are never displayed in the online store. If you want a page in the store where customers can view products from a specific supplier, you should instead use the “Link to” field on the supplier’s page.

For those with a technical background

Revenue is calculated per product line as the unit price multiplied by the number of units, minus the VAT portion of the line, and then totaled per supplier. The number of orders is the number of unique orders per supplier, which is why the total at the top may exceed the actual number of orders. The share and average order value are calculated based on the displayed rows, not on the store’s total revenue.

A snapshot of the figures is not saved. If you want to be able to retrieve a period exactly as it appears today, save the CSV file before moving products between suppliers. If you have any questions or notice a figure that doesn’t add up, feel free to email support@shoporama.dk.