One of SmartScout's features is seller history data. Some might think this is a niche tool that only a few people might need, but it can be incredibly useful for all types of sellers. That's because it offers unique insight on how you can run your business, particularly in regards to your products' seasonality.

‍

Best Buy offers us a chance to get a simple look at how we can use a company's data to prepare for the future.

‍

Take a look at their history:

‍

‍

This is the number of reviews Best Buy has received on a daily basis throughout their history on Amazon. Since customers are given the chance to review every transaction with a seller, seller reviews are a decent lagging indicator for sales over time. It is not exact, since customers only review 1-5% of all transactions, and the timing is off, because no one will leave a review until after they've received the product which can be anywhere from 1 day to 2 weeks. Subtle variations, then, shouldn't receive much weight, but you can often find major trends to inform big decisions.

‍

We can see 5 major spikes in Best Buy's sales, for example. It should be no surprise that those correspond with the most well known sales periods: Black Friday through Christmas, and Prime Day.

‍

The lowest the reviews ever get is about 400 at a time, then peaked at 3400 reviews during the most recent Prime Day.

‍

The only significant products Best Buy sells are TVs, so if you sell in the consumer electronics space, this is one way you can plan out your year. Expect sales to rise and fall in roughly the same amounts at those times of the year. In fact, it works no matter what you sell. Pick out top sellers in whatever category you're involved in to see how they perform throughout the year, too. If you only use it to identify trends and patterns, his information will work across multiple platforms, since Amazon sales are becoming synonymous with the entire economy. Even Prime Day is becoming its own event, with many businesses offering their own deals at the same time to avoid missing out (just under different names).

‍