Use Google Sheets' AI to Analyze Sell-Through Data

What This Does

Google Sheets' built-in AI can analyze your sales and inventory data, generate sell-through calculations, create pivot tables, and answer questions about your data in plain language — without you needing to know complex formula syntax.

Before You Start

• You have a Google account (free Gmail works)
• Your sales/inventory data is in Google Sheets (exported from ERP, or manually maintained)
• Headers are in row 1 and data is clean (no merged cells)

Steps

1. Open your data in Google Sheets

Navigate to sheets.google.com and open your sales data file. Make sure your data has clear column headers.

2. Find the AI feature

Look for one of two options:

• "Explore" button: Bottom right corner of the screen — lightning bolt/sparkle icon
• Gemini sidebar: Click Extensions in the top menu → Gemini in Sheets (if enabled in your Google Workspace)

Click Explore for the quickest access.

3. Ask a question about your data

In the Explore panel (right side), you'll see an input box. Type a plain-language question: "What is the sell-through rate for each vendor?" or "Which department has the highest average selling price?" or "Create a pivot table showing sales by week."

4. Review the generated analysis

Google Sheets will generate the formula, chart, or pivot table and show it in the panel. Click Insert to add it to your spreadsheet.

5. Generate formulas by description

If you want a formula in a specific cell, click the cell, then in Explore type: "Write a formula that calculates the percent of total for the value in this column." The formula appears in the panel — click to insert.

Real Example

Scenario: You have a weekly sales export with columns: Vendor, Dept, Style Number, Units Received, Units Sold, Net Sales, Week. You need to calculate sell-through by vendor for the current season.

What you type in Explore: "Create a pivot table showing total units received, total units sold, and sell-through percentage by vendor. Sort by sell-through descending."

What you get: A pivot table on a new sheet with exactly those calculations — no formula writing required. Review, adjust any vendor names, and you have your vendor sell-through analysis.

Tips

• Format your data as a named range first (Data → Named Ranges) — it makes the Explore AI more accurate when referring to specific data sets
• If Explore doesn't give the exact analysis you need, describe it more specifically: "Calculate sell-through where units sold is divided by units received, but only for rows where Dept equals 'WOMEN'"
• For more complex requests, paste your data description into ChatGPT and ask for the Google Sheets formula — copy the result back in

Tool interfaces change — if a button has moved, look for similar AI/magic/smart options in the same menu area.