Glossary

Retail and eCommerce data metrics, defined

Definitions of the retail and alternative-data metrics used in consumer investment research, including markdown breadth, discount depth, in-stock rate, matched-SKU inflation, mix shift, shrinkflation, online share of shelf and brand-to-ticker mapping, with how each is measured and its common pitfalls.

Active product (active assortment): A product that is listed on a covered retailer's website in the period, whether or not every size is in stock.
Alternative data (shelf-side): Non-traditional data used in investment research; shelf-side data measures what is listed, at what price and availability, rather than what was bought.
Assortment count: The number of distinct products a brand or retailer has live for sale at a point in time.
Assortment rationalization: A deliberate reduction in the number of products a brand or retailer offers, often called SKU rationalization.
Brand presence (distribution breadth): How many covered retailers list a brand's products, and how that retailer count and mix change over time.
Brand-to-ticker mapping: Linking each consumer brand to the company that owns it and to that company's listed security, with ownership changes dated.
Category standardization: Placing every product from every retailer into one shared category tree, so the same kind of product is compared like for like across retailers.
Channel leakage: Products moving from premium retailers to off-price retailers, a signal of excess inventory and brand-positioning risk.
Discount depth: The average percentage reduction from full price across products that are on sale.
DTC vs wholesale mix: How a brand's online assortment and pricing split between its own direct-to-consumer site and its wholesale retail partners.
Full-price availability: The share of a brand's products that are both in stock and selling at full price, a proxy for clean, healthy demand.
Full-price sell-out: A size or variant going out of stock while still at full price, a sign of demand rather than discount-driven clearance.
In-stock rate (availability): The percentage of a brand's or retailer's listed products that are available to buy.
Markdown (sale or promotion): A SKU selling below its full price, whether labeled a sale, a promotion or a markdown.
Markdown breadth: The share of each product's in-stock sizes and variants selling below full price, averaged across products so each product counts equally.
Matched-SKU inflation (same-SKU price change): The price change of identical products observed in both periods, which isolates true price moves from changes in product mix.
Mix shift: The part of an average-price change explained by a change in which products are on sale, rather than by price changes on the same products.
New-product share (new entrants): The percentage of a brand's live assortment that was first seen within a recent window, such as the last 13 weeks.
Price architecture: How a brand's or category's products are distributed across price tiers, such as value, mid-market, premium and luxury.
Price gap: The percentage difference between the price of one product or brand and a comparable alternative, such as branded versus private label.
Price pass-through: The share of a cost increase, such as a tariff or input-cost rise, that a company passes on to customers through higher prices.
Private label share: The share of a retailer's assortment in a category made up of its own-brand (private label) products.
Promotional intensity: How heavily a brand, retailer or category relies on discounts, combining how often products are promoted and how deep the discounts are.
Share of shelf (online): A brand's share of the products a retailer lists in a category, measured on the retailer's website.
Shrinkflation: A price increase delivered by reducing pack size while keeping the shelf price the same or similar.
SKU: A single purchasable variant of a product, such as one size and color of a shoe, as a retailer lists it.
Velocity: How quickly products sell. Data Purl does not observe unit sales; it provides shelf signals that indicate velocity, such as full-price sell-out and time to markdown.

See the data for your coverage

Start free in the analytics portal, or talk to the founders about the full dataset delivered to Snowflake or S3.

Start free Talk to the founders

Glossary

Retail and eCommerce data metrics, defined

Active product (active assortment): A product that is listed on a covered retailer's website in the period, whether or not every size is in stock.
Alternative data (shelf-side): Non-traditional data used in investment research; shelf-side data measures what is listed, at what price and availability, rather than what was bought.
Assortment count: The number of distinct products a brand or retailer has live for sale at a point in time.
Assortment rationalization: A deliberate reduction in the number of products a brand or retailer offers, often called SKU rationalization.
Brand presence (distribution breadth): How many covered retailers list a brand's products, and how that retailer count and mix change over time.
Brand-to-ticker mapping: Linking each consumer brand to the company that owns it and to that company's listed security, with ownership changes dated.
Category standardization: Placing every product from every retailer into one shared category tree, so the same kind of product is compared like for like across retailers.
Channel leakage: Products moving from premium retailers to off-price retailers, a signal of excess inventory and brand-positioning risk.
Discount depth: The average percentage reduction from full price across products that are on sale.
DTC vs wholesale mix: How a brand's online assortment and pricing split between its own direct-to-consumer site and its wholesale retail partners.
Full-price availability: The share of a brand's products that are both in stock and selling at full price, a proxy for clean, healthy demand.
Full-price sell-out: A size or variant going out of stock while still at full price, a sign of demand rather than discount-driven clearance.
In-stock rate (availability): The percentage of a brand's or retailer's listed products that are available to buy.
Markdown (sale or promotion): A SKU selling below its full price, whether labeled a sale, a promotion or a markdown.
Markdown breadth: The share of each product's in-stock sizes and variants selling below full price, averaged across products so each product counts equally.
Matched-SKU inflation (same-SKU price change): The price change of identical products observed in both periods, which isolates true price moves from changes in product mix.
Mix shift: The part of an average-price change explained by a change in which products are on sale, rather than by price changes on the same products.
New-product share (new entrants): The percentage of a brand's live assortment that was first seen within a recent window, such as the last 13 weeks.
Price architecture: How a brand's or category's products are distributed across price tiers, such as value, mid-market, premium and luxury.
Price gap: The percentage difference between the price of one product or brand and a comparable alternative, such as branded versus private label.
Price pass-through: The share of a cost increase, such as a tariff or input-cost rise, that a company passes on to customers through higher prices.
Private label share: The share of a retailer's assortment in a category made up of its own-brand (private label) products.
Promotional intensity: How heavily a brand, retailer or category relies on discounts, combining how often products are promoted and how deep the discounts are.
Share of shelf (online): A brand's share of the products a retailer lists in a category, measured on the retailer's website.
Shrinkflation: A price increase delivered by reducing pack size while keeping the shelf price the same or similar.
SKU: A single purchasable variant of a product, such as one size and color of a shoe, as a retailer lists it.
Velocity: How quickly products sell. Data Purl does not observe unit sales; it provides shelf signals that indicate velocity, such as full-price sell-out and time to markdown.

See the data for your coverage

Start free in the analytics portal, or talk to the founders about the full dataset delivered to Snowflake or S3.

Start free Talk to the founders