What is it?
A “unit” is one sellable package of a product. At retail checkout, a unit is whatever the barcode represents—one bottle of shampoo, one bag of chips, or one club-size 3‑pack. In supply chain conversations, “units” can also mean cases or inners, depending on the unit of measure (UOM) being used.
Why is it important?
Units represent the net units that a brand or item sold over a period of time. Units let you compare performance between products with different price points (e.g., premium vs. value). Dollar sales can be inflated or depressed by price changes, discounts, or inflation. Units cut through that noise. Also, brands use unit and year-ago sales to calculate sales percent change, a critical metric for CPG data.
What are some examples?
Units are usually the second measure in a report, and can be used to rank brands or items; see the table with example data below.
| Brands | Units | Units % Chg |
| Brand A | 100,000 | -10% |
| Brand B | 75,000 | 2% |
| Brand C | 65,000 | 10% |
| Private Label | 50,000 | -5% |
| Brand D | 25,000 | 3% |