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.
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 |
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% |
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.
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.
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