Drowning in Data? The Only 3 Retail Numbers That Matter

**Have you ever opened your Shopify dashboard looking for one answer and somehow ended up with ten new questions?** Hi, I'm retail strategist and founder of Resilient Retail Club, Catherine Erdly. Most retailers I work with don't have a lack-of-data problem — they have the opposite. They're drowning in dashboards, apps, reports, spreadsheets and AI notifications, yet they still can't confidently answer the three questions that actually matter: Am I making money? Am I on track? Is my stock healthy? More information hasn't made the decision easier. If anything, it's made it harder. In this episode I talk about cutting through the noise. I share why “tech creep” quietly drains your bank account and your attention, how new AI tools like Shopify Sidekick are changing the reporting game, and why the answer to feeling overwhelmed is almost never another subscription. Then I get into the small handful of numbers that genuinely tell you whether your business is healthy — and why clarity beats complexity every single time. If you've been feeling unsure about how things are really going in your shop, this one will help you stop guessing. By the end you'll know exactly which three numbers to check each month, what “good” looks like for each, and how to build one simple place to track them so you can see the health of your business in seconds — without drowning in data. The specific numbers, the benchmarks and the exact formula I use are all inside the episode. ### **In this episode** **(00:00)** Drowning in data, starving for clarity — why more tools won't fix it, and how to cut tech creep **(06:45)** Number 1 — Am I making money on every sale? Understanding your sales margin **(11:02)** Number 2 — Am I selling enough to cover my costs? The power of breakeven analysis **(14:40)** Number 3 — Is my stock turning fast enough? Weeks cover and why stock is cash ### **Links & resources** - **Free download — The 3 Key Numbers guide:** https://www.resilientretailclub.com/numbers - My book, *Tame Your Tiger: How to Stop Your Product Business Eating You Alive* — where I show you how to calculate your breakeven step by step - **Connect with me on LinkedIn:** https://uk.linkedin.com/in/catherineerdly - **More episodes & the audio podcast:** https://www.resilientretailclub.com/podcast/