SoROOS

SoROOS is one of Amazon’s key instock and availability performance indicators.
It identifies cases where Amazon could technically reorder or restock a product (it’s “sourceable”) - but the product is currently suppressed, blocked, or unavailable for customers to purchase.

The metric helps Amazon and vendors pinpoint avoidable gaps in availability and revenue leakage due to operational or quality flags rather than true out-of-stock conditions.

What SoROOS Measures:

• The percentage of Glance Views (GVs) on a product where the ASIN was not available for purchase, despite being replenishable from the vendor.
• Indicates “lost buyability” rather than total OOS (Out of Stock).

Typical Formula:

SoROOS %=Unavailable Glance Views (on sourceable ASINs)​×100/ Total Glance Views

Common Causes of SoROOS:

1. Andon Cord Events:
   • Temporary sales suspension due to repeated customer complaints or safety issues.
   • Example: reports of defective power cords trigger automatic suppression.
2. Manual Suppressions:
   • Amazon Retail or Vendor Managers manually remove an ASIN from sale due to pricing errors, compliance reviews, or regulatory checks.
3. Inventory Gaps:
   • The ASIN has temporarily depleted stock while replenishment is en route.
4. System or Listing Errors:
   • Incorrect catalogue data or pricing discrepancies causing “Currently unavailable” messages.

Why It Happens Despite Being “Sourceable”:
The vendor is active and capable of supplying the item, but the product cannot currently be sold due to Amazon-internal restrictions - not a true inventory shortage.

Where It Appears:

• Amazon Retail Analytics (ARA / ARA Premium) dashboards under Availability KPIs.
• Operational Performance Reports in Vendor Central.
• Included in Weekly Business Review (WBR) discussions as part of Buyability metrics.

Benefits for Amazon:

• Operational insight: Detects bottlenecks unrelated to procurement.
• Customer experience: Helps resolve listing gaps quickly to restore buyability.
• Revenue recovery: Identifies ASINs with preventable lost sales.

Benefits for Vendors:

• Visibility: Highlights when sales are blocked for reasons other than OOS.
• Collaboration: Enables faster resolution with Vendor Managers or AVS.
• Revenue protection: Reduces downtime on replenishable ASINs.

Challenges:

• Root cause complexity: Multiple Amazon teams (catalogue, safety, retail) can trigger suppressions.
• Limited transparency: Vendors often see only surface-level metrics, not full suppression details.
• Temporary but impactful: Even short SoROOS periods can cause significant sales loss for high-traffic ASINs.

Example:
A coffee machine vendor maintains strong SOH levels, but a sudden spike in customer complaints about leaking water tanks triggers an Andon Cord.
The ASIN appears “Currently unavailable” for three days, even though replenishment is possible - contributing to a SoROOS rate of 4.2% for the week.

Why It Matters:
SoROOS highlights avoidable availability gaps that impact customer trust and vendor sales.
By monitoring and addressing SoROOS causes, vendors can improve Buy Box uptime, instock rates, and lost sales recovery.

In short:
SoROOS (Sourceable Replenishment Out of Stock) measures when a product is shown as unavailable despite being replenishable from a 1P vendor - often due to safety flags, suppressions, or temporary operational issues rather than true stockouts.