The bestseller ranking tells you what sells best. Affinity analysis tells you how customers think when they buy. These are two different answers to two different questions.
A natural cosmetics store. Over 2,500 active SKUs, tens of millions of EUR in revenue per quarter. The owner knows what sells best – has known for years. But doesn’t know what customers buy together. He decided to find out.
Ranking: what sells best
Total revenue in Q1 2026: 19,765,000 EUR · 2,513 active SKUs.
| # | Product | Revenue | Orders | Share |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rose Mist Moisturizing Cream 3×50ml – NatLine | 465,217 EUR | 2,528 | 2.35% |
| 2 | Lavender Breath Moisturizing Cream 3×50ml – NatLine | 289,640 EUR | 1,690 | 1.47% |
| 3 | Active Serum Vitamin C 30ml – ActiveSkin | 272,097 EUR | 1,417 | 1.38% |
| 4 | Active Serum Retinol 0.3% 30ml – ActiveSkin | 231,068 EUR | 1,419 | 1.17% |
| 5 | Rose Cleansing Gel 150ml – DailyDerm | 218,826 EUR | 4,000 | 1.11% |
| 6 | Aloe Cleansing Gel 150ml – DailyDerm | 209,994 EUR | 3,721 | 1.06% |
| 7 | Active Serum Hyaluronic Acid 30ml – ActiveSkin | 207,002 EUR | 1,177 | 1.05% |
| 8 | Rose Moisturizing Toner 150ml – DailyDerm | 198,050 EUR | 3,794 | 1.00% |
| 9 | Active Serum Niacinamide 30ml – ActiveSkin | 191,040 EUR | 954 | 0.97% |
| 10 | Hemp Harmony Moisturizing Cream 3×50ml – NatLine | 186,535 EUR | 1,023 | 0.94% |
Product #1 (Rose Mist 3×50ml) generates almost 1.6× more than #2. The top 10 centers on two lines – NatLine (multi-pack creams) and ActiveSkin (serums with active ingredients). DailyDerm dominates in order volume at a lower unit price.
A familiar list. The bestseller is obvious, the product lines recognizable, the distribution predictable. But that’s only half the picture.
Affinity: how customers think when they buy
The first thing worth noting: Rose Mist 3×50ml – bestseller #1 – doesn’t appear in any of the 20 highest-affinity pairs. Customers buy it on its own, coming back for a specific product they know. It’s a loyalty product – it needs no pair and pulls nothing along with it.
In the affinity pairs you can see three completely different buying behaviors:
A lift above 100 means the pair appears together at least 100× more often than chance would suggest. Values of 400–939 point to a very strong, non-random buying pattern.
Two lists, two different pictures of the customer. The ranking shows what they buy most eagerly. Affinity shows how they think while buying.
Three patterns – three different behaviors
ActiveSkin samples – 70% confidence
A customer who buys a Vitamin C sample takes a Retinol sample in 7 out of 10 cases. This isn’t a random pair – it’s a customer who wants to test the whole active-ingredient series before spending money on a full size. A single sample-bundle SKU already answers this behavior.
SensoCare is a sensitive-skin line in which customers buy a trio of products (gel + serum + cream) to find out what their skin tolerates. Three interconnected pairs in the top 20 mean this line is treated as a system, not as a set of separate products. The category page should reflect that.
Takeaway
The ranking tells you what sells best. Affinity tells you how customers make decisions – who tests, who looks for a system, who buys the complete set. These behaviors exist whether or not the store responds to them. A sample pack, a starter kit, a set on the product page – that’s not the store’s invention, it’s a response to what customers already do.
DataOrganizer · MCP
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