Paying $104K for 5-Day-Old Reports? Master Online Sales Analytics in Odoo 18

E-commerce store generates $2.3M yearly revenue. CEO asks CMO: "Which products drive sales?" CMO: "Let me check Google Analytics... and Shopify reports... and export to Excel..." Takes 3 days. Delivers report: Product A sold 847 units for $127K. CEO: "What's profit margin?" CMO: "That's in accounting system, need another report." Takes 2 more days. CEO: "Which marketing campaign drove those sales?" CMO: "That's in ad platform... let me export..." Week later: Data fragmented across 5 systems. Analysis cost: $8,700 (23 hours consultant time). Decision delayed 7 days = competitor launched similar product first = lost $387K market share. Next month: Same questions, same 5-day delay, same $8,700 cost.

Odoo 18 Website Sales Analytics fixes this: One dashboard shows everything. Revenue by product, by date, by customer. Profit margins included (connects to accounting automatically). Marketing source tracked (UTM parameters). Real-time updates (no waiting for exports). Pivot tables (slice data any way). Visual charts (bar, line, pie). CEO asks question = CMO answers in 30 seconds. Here's how to analyze online sales performance so you stop losing $104K annually to data fragmentation.

What Online Sales Analytics Does

Real-time integrated reporting: Sales data → Automatic aggregation → Pivot tables + charts → Answer questions instantly → Make data-driven decisions.

Step 1: Access Sales Reporting Dashboard

1. Go to Website → Reporting → Online Sales
2. Dashboard shows all e-commerce transactions
3. Data automatically populated from website orders
4. Real-time updates (no manual refresh needed)

Step 2: Use Pivot View for Data Analysis

Interactive spreadsheet-like analysis with drag-and-drop dimensions.

1. Click Pivot view icon
2. Default shows: Total sales by order date
3. Drag dimensions to reorganize:
   • Rows: Product, Customer, Date, Campaign
   • Columns: Time periods (Day, Week, Month, Quarter, Year)
   • Measures: Total sales, Untaxed amount, Quantity, Margin
4. Click Measures tab to select metrics

Available Measures

• Total: Gross revenue (including taxes)
• Untaxed Amount: Revenue before taxes
• Quantity: Units sold
• Margin: Profit (revenue minus cost)
• Count: Number of orders

Example Pivot Analyses

Step 3: Visualize Data with Charts

Three chart types for different insights.

Bar Chart

1. Click Graph view → Select Bar Chart
2. Best for: Comparing categories side-by-side
3. Use cases:
   • Top 10 products by revenue
   • Sales by marketing campaign
   • Regional sales comparison
4. Instantly spot highest/lowest performers

Line Chart

1. Select Line Chart
2. Best for: Trends over time
3. Two types:
   • Standard: Shows values at each point
   • Cumulative: Running total (year-to-date sales)
   • Stacked: Multiple lines layered (compare products over time)
4. Use cases:
   • Monthly revenue growth
   • Seasonal patterns
   • Impact of marketing campaigns (spike after launch)

Pie Chart

1. Select Pie Chart
2. Best for: Proportional breakdown
3. Use cases:
   • Revenue by product category (Electronics: 45%, Apparel: 30%, Home: 25%)
   • Sales by customer segment (New: 60%, Repeat: 40%)
   • Traffic source contribution (Organic: 50%, Paid: 30%, Direct: 20%)
4. Each slice size = percentage of total

Step 4: Filter Data for Specific Insights

1. Click Filters icon
2. Add filters:
   • Date Range: Last 7 days, Last month, Last quarter, Custom range
   • Product: Specific products or categories
   • Customer: Specific customers or segments
   • Order Status: Paid, Unpaid, Cancelled
   • Payment Method: Credit card, PayPal, Bank transfer
3. Combine filters for precise analysis

Step 5: Export Reports

1. Click Download icon (top right)
2. Export formats:
   • Excel (.xlsx) - For further analysis in spreadsheets
   • CSV - For importing into other tools
   • PDF - For presentations/reports
3. Exported file includes current view (filters, measures applied)

Advanced: Track Marketing Campaigns

Use UTM parameters to attribute sales to specific campaigns.

1. Add UTM parameters to marketing links:
   • Example: yourstore.com/product?utm_source=facebook&utm_campaign=spring2024
2. Odoo captures UTM data when customer clicks link
3. In reporting, group by UTM Source or UTM Campaign
4. See which campaigns drive most revenue

Real-World Impact

FAQs