Retail Toolkit
Retail dashboard specification: the numbers a weekly trading meeting needs
A specification for the weekly trading dashboard: which metrics belong on it, how each is defined, and what to leave out so the meeting stays a decision meeting.
Guide 9 of 9 · 8 min read · Updated 4 August 2026
Trading dashboards grow until nobody reads them. The fix is a specification: a fixed set of metrics with agreed definitions, a fixed layout, and an explicit list of what does not appear.
This is a working spec you can hand to whoever builds the report.
1. The headline block
| Metric | Definition | Compared against |
|---|---|---|
| Net sales | Gross less returns and discounts | Last week, last year, plan |
| Like-for-like sales | Stores trading in both periods | Last year |
| Gross margin after markdown | Margin net of markdown taken | Plan |
| Units per transaction | Units divided by transactions | Last year |
| Conversion | Transactions divided by traffic | Last week |
2. The stock block
| Metric | Definition | Action trigger |
|---|---|---|
| Weeks of cover | Closing stock over average weekly sales | Outside the agreed band |
| Availability on top 50 SKUs | % in stock at store or online | Below 95% |
| Aged stock | % of stock older than the category threshold | Rising two weeks running |
| Intake versus plan | Received value against buying plan | Variance over 10% |
3. The channel block
- Online contribution per order, not just online revenue.
- First-attempt delivery success by carrier.
- Return rate by category, four-week rolling.
- Marketplace versus own-site split with take rate applied.
4. What to leave out
Anything nobody will act on this week. Cumulative year-to-date charts, vanity social metrics, and full store rankings all belong in an appendix. A trading dashboard should fit on one screen and produce decisions, not a reading assignment.
- No metric without an owner.
- No metric without a defined action trigger.
- No metric that cannot be moved within the next four weeks.
Key takeaways
- Fix the definitions once and never change them mid-year.
- Every metric needs an owner and an action trigger.
- Cover, availability and aged stock are the three stock numbers that matter weekly.
- One screen. Everything else is an appendix.
Questions & Answers
Q.Daily or weekly reporting?
Daily or weekly reporting?
Daily for sales and availability as an operational feed; weekly for the decision meeting. Running the decision meeting on daily data produces noise-driven decisions.
Q.Who owns the dashboard?
Who owns the dashboard?
One person owns the definitions and the build. Metric owners are accountable for the number, not for the report.
Q.How do we stop it growing?
How do we stop it growing?
Impose a fixed slot count: adding a metric requires removing one. It is crude and it works.
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Written by
Retail News Asia Editorial Desk
Templates, checklists and practical toolkits
Researched, written and fact-checked by our newsroom. Last reviewed 4 August 2026. Meet the editorial team.