One of the easiest ways to demonstrate you understand the customer’s business is to quantify your value using industry-specific metrics important to them. Gain credibility and create differentiation when engaging retail executives using the metrics below.
Executive Selling Bonus Tip: Analyst reports commonly benchmark companies using the key metrics of an industry. They’re an ideal resource for identifying industry and customer-specific metrics.
Metrics Retailers Use
| Revenue Growth | Measured as year-over-year sales |
| Market Share | The percentage of the total available market being serviced by a specific company. |
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Revenue per Unit (Square Foot, Square Meter, etc.) |
A measure of space utilization retailers employ to determine optimal store locations and floor plans. |
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Comparable Store Sales or Same Store Sales |
Sales growth of existing stores measured over a specific period of time, compared with the corresponding period of the year prior. Typically, only those stores open for the entire period are considered so the growth rate is not affected by openings or closures. Specific definitions for stores included or excluded from this metric may vary by retailer. |
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Number of stores (Equivalent Units) |
Measures end-of-period impact of store openings and closures. When shown as equivalent units, the impact of timing for store openings and closures is also incorporated. |
| Store Margin | Provides an operating margin at the store level (sales minus cost of sales, labor and other store-related expenses). The definition of store margin may vary by retailer. |
| Payroll to Sales Margin
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Provides a measure of operating efficiency that isolates labor costs – the largest single cost component for many retailers |
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OIBDA |
Used by companies to show profitability in continuing business activities. Excludes the effects of capitalization and tax structure |
