Bestseller

In any product assortment, not all items perform equally. Some consistently bring in revenue, attract new customers, and have low return rates– while others may underperform. That’s why it's so important to continuously evaluate your product performance across units sold, revenue, returns, and popularity among new customers

The Bestseller report gives you a clear, sortable view of how your products, categories, and even brands are performing. Whether you want to double down on bestsellers, phase out slow movers, or track the success of new launches, this report provides the insights you need to take action.

Sorting

Evaluating product performance is key to identifying your top performers—but it's just as important to spot the products that are falling behind. To help you do both, the report allows you to sort results by either best or worst performing items, making it easy to catch both high-impact and underperforming products at a glance.

Metrics

The report allows you to toggle between different metrics to gain insights into various aspects of your product performance. Available metrics include:

Items
Items represent the total units sold. Gross items sold counts every unit ordered before accounting for product returns, while net items sold reflects the remaining units after subtracting any units customers send back.

Revenue
Revenue is the total income from product sales. By default, both gross and net revenue exclude sales tax, shipping fees and are calculated after discounts. Learn more about RetentionX's revenue definitions and how to change them here. As this report analyzes revenues at a product level, net revenue is calculated by deducting the Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of the returned items from gross revenue, regardless of a refund. Learn more here.

Returns
Returns represent the proportion of sold items that customers return; tracked both by number of units and by the Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of the return products. The value of the return products is expressed by the Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) of those returns. RetentionX automatically attributes returns to the original order date, regardless of when a refund is processed. Learn more here.

New Customers
Number of customers who purchased the item as part of their first order, helping you understand its appeal to first-time buyers.

All metrics can be broken down by variant, product, category or brand to see their individual performance. If you want to see more details per product, you can switch the view to data grid view and see all metrics per product at a glance:

Monitor Performance Over Time

Once you’ve identified top or underperforming products, the next step is to understand how their performance has developed over time. Was it consistently strong, or did it gain or lose traction?

This is especially valuable after product launches or campaigns, when early trends can help guide future decisions. To explore performance over time, simply click on any product, category, or brand - you can even add up to 3 data points to easily compare their development. Learn more here.

Use Cases

If you want to make sure that you spend your time and money on the most impactful items it is important that you are aware of your bestsellers. Here are a few examples of how to use this view:

• Product Performance
  Evaluate your products from multiple angles—not just by units sold. A product might bring in high revenue but suffer from high return rates. That’s why a holistic view across all available metrics is key to making smart decisions.
  
  

• Product Launch Analysis
  See whether a new product gains traction right away or takes time to build momentum. This helps you assess if your go-to-market efforts are effective or if you need to tweak your strategy.
  
  

• Campaign Impact
  Measure the success of a promotion or influencer campaign by comparing product performance before, during, and after. If a product was the focus of a campaign, you should see a clear impact in the numbers.
  
  

• High Return Rates
  

  Identify products that aren't meeting customer expectations by analyzing return rates. A high return rate may point to issues with sizing, quality, misleading product descriptions, or unmet expectations—insights that help you take corrective action before margins are impacted.
  
  

• Seasonality Trends
  Spot products with cyclical or seasonal demand. If an item consistently peaks around certain holidays or months, you can better plan inventory and align your marketing calendar accordingly.
  
  

• Declining Favorites
  Keep an eye on historically strong performers to catch early signs of decline. A gradual drop could indicate shifting customer preferences or the need to refresh positioning, imagery, or bundling.
  
  

• Category or Brand Strategy
  Zoom out from individual items and evaluate how entire categories or brands are performing. Use this to refine your assortment strategy, identify rising stars, or decide where to scale back.

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