For Amazon-first brands, revenue growth without clear visibility into profitability is a dangerous illusion. Rising fees, aggressive ad spend, long-term storage costs, and vendor chargebacks can silently erode margins even as top-line sales look healthy. AdOrbix builds profit analytics that unify Seller Central and Vendor Central data into a single, SKU-level view so leadership can see true unit economics.​​

Why Amazon Profit Analytics Matter Now
In 2025, Amazon’s Profit Analytics and “Selling Economics & Fees” tools give sellers more granular visibility, but the data is still scattered across multiple surfaces and reports. Many teams still optimize for ROAS or TACoS instead of net profit per SKU, category, and channel, which leads to scaling campaigns that are unprofitable.​​​At AdOrbix, profitability analysis is a recurring practice, not a one-off spreadsheet—connecting operations, advertising, vendor terms, and catalog decisions into a single profit narrative.​

Step 1: Pull the Right Reports from VC and SC
The first step is to collect all the data that influences profit, not just revenue. For Vendor Central, that means Net PPM, Sales Diagnostic, COGS, Purchase Orders, Deductions, and Operational Performance for shortages and compliance issues. For Seller Central, it includes Business Reports, Advertising reports, Fee Preview, Payments (Transaction View), Returns, and Inventory Age for storage fees.​​
AdOrbix standardizes these exports so every file aligns on SKU or ASIN, marketplace, and date range, enabling apples-to-apples comparison between 1P and 3P profitability.​​

Step 2: Build a Unified Profitability Model
Once raw data is pulled, it must be shaped into a clean profit model. Typical calculated fields include gross revenue, total Amazon fees, ad cost, COGS, chargebacks and deductions, and net profit per unit and per SKU.​
For Vendor Central, chargebacks, shortages, and wholesale discounts heavily influence Net PPM and overall vendor profitability. For Seller Central, FBA fulfillment fees, storage fees, advertising spend, and returns cost usually determine whether an SKU is a true “hero” or a margin drain.​​​

Step 3: Turn Data into Actionable Insights
A strong profitability report should tell a clear story, not just list numbers. AdOrbix structures dashboards to highlight profit by SKU and category, the profitability impact of advertising, chargeback and deduction hotspots, and week‑over‑week or month‑over‑month trends.​
This makes it easy to spot where storage is dragging margins, which SKUs remain unprofitable even with high ad investment, and where vendor terms or price changes have compressed margins.

Step 4: Connect Profitability to Strategy
The real value of this framework is in how quickly it translates into decisions. With SKU-level profit analytics, AdOrbix helps brands reprice strategically, cut wasted ad spend, clean up unprofitable catalog segments, and adjust inventory strategies to reduce long-term storage fees.​​
For Vendor Central brands, the same model becomes a negotiation tool during annual vendor negotiations, cost justification requests, and decisions about which SKUs should move to Seller Central for better economics.​​

Step 5: Automate, Monitor, and Iterate
Profitability on Amazon is dynamic; fees, competition, and operations shift constantly. AdOrbix recommends weekly or monthly refreshes of profit dashboards using BI tools, powered by Vendor Central and Seller Central exports and, where available, Profit Analytics data.​​​
This continuous profit analytics loop gives leadership a cockpit for pricing, budget allocation, and inventory moves before margin problems show up in the financial statements.​

References & Further Reading (for adding links in your CMS)

Amazon Seller University – Profit Analytics overview​
Amazon Accelerate announcements on Profit Analytics and Selling Economics & Fees​
Guides to accessing Seller Central reports and unit economics​
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What makes Amazon profitability so complex compared to other marketplaces?
   Amazon splits costs across multiple surfaces—Seller Central fees, Vendor Central terms, advertising costs, refunds, storage charges, and operational deductions. Because no single report tells the full profit story, brands need unified models that combine both 1P and 3P data across marketplaces and time periods.

2. How does AdOrbix unify Vendor Central and Seller Central profitability?

AdOrbix standardizes exports from both systems so that every dataset aligns by SKU, ASIN, marketplace, and date. This allows direct comparison of 1P vs. 3P economics, reveals margin discrepancies, and enables accurate blended profitability analysis across channels.

1. What are the most important profitability metrics Amazon brands should track?
   The core metrics include gross revenue, Amazon fees, COGS, ad spend, deductions and chargebacks, refunds, storage fees, and net profit per unit and per SKU. For VC brands, Net PPM is essential; for SC brands, FBA fees and long-term storage fees heavily influence margin.

2. How often should brands update their Amazon profitability dashboards?
   Because Amazon fees, ad competition, and operational issues change weekly, most brands benefit from updating dashboards every week or at least monthly. AdOrbix recommends continuous refresh cycles so margin problems are identified long before they show up in P&L statements.