| name | ecommerce.demand-validator |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| description | Validate whether demand is real by comparing search volume with sales and buying intent. Triggers: is demand real, fake demand, inflated volume, are people buying, conversion gap. Use for demand proof, not broad market overview or niche go/no-go scoring.
|
| allowed-tools | ["Bash","Read","Write"] |
IMPORTANT — Working Directory: All scripts in this skill MUST be executed with the working directory set to the absolute path of the directory containing this SKILL.md file (the skill root directory). Always cd into this directory before running any command. Do NOT use relative paths or shell shortcuts like ~ in paths, as they may not be resolved by the execution environment.
Demand Validator v1.0.0
Category / Market Understanding Step
Before running this skill, if the user provides a broad product category, niche, keyword, market idea, or trend topic, first identify:
- category or niche
- target marketplace, country, or platform
- user's analysis goal
- relevant seed keywords or subcategories
- whether the request is about demand, competition, trend, opportunity, or prioritization
Use this market understanding to choose keywords, filters, regions, comparison scope, and analysis dimensions before executing the script.
Is this demand real or inflated?
Validate whether market demand is genuine by comparing search volume to actual sales.
Core Question
— Is this demand real?
Search volume ≠ Sales!
When to Use
- Validating market opportunity before investment
- Detecting inflated/fake search volume
- Identifying markets with high buying intent
- Finding hidden gems with low search but high conversion
Differs From / Not Applicable
- Use market-overview for a broad market picture.
- Use niche-evaluator for final go/no-go entry scoring.
- Use this skill when the question is whether search interest converts into actual buying demand.
Data Sources
| Source | Endpoint | Data |
|---|
| Jungle Scout | /api/v1/tools/jungle-scout/keywords/share-of-voice | Monthly search volume (SOV) |
| Amazon Search | /api/v1/tools/research/amazon/search | Products with sales estimates |
| ABA (Amazon Brand Analytics) | /api/v1/tools/research/aba/intelligentQuery | SFR 12-week trend + Top 3 Click Share (2 queries) |
| eBay | /api/v1/tools/research/ebay/search (showOnly: Sold) | Cross-platform sold listings validation |
| TikTok Echotik | /api/v1/tools/research/echotik/listProduct | Social commerce demand signals |
| Keepa | /api/v1/tools/research/keepa/productSeries | BSR history, seasonality, seller count trends |
Core Metric: Search-to-Sale Ratio (SSR)
SSR = (Total Monthly Sales / Monthly Search Volume) × 100
SSR Benchmarks
| SSR | Buying Intent | Meaning |
|---|
| > 5% | 🔥 HIGH | Strong conversion, real demand |
| 2-5% | 🟡 MODERATE | Normal market |
| 0.5-2% | 🟠 LOW | More browsing than buying |
| < 0.5% | 🔴 VERY LOW | Window shoppers, inflated search |
Demand Patterns
| Pattern | Signal | Description | Risk |
|---|
| 🟢 REAL_DEMAND | High SSR + Stable | Verified buying intent | LOW |
| 🟠 WINDOW_SHOPPERS | High search, low sales | People look but don't buy | HIGH |
| 💎 HIDDEN_GEM | Low search, high conversion | Under-the-radar opportunity | LOW |
| 🎭 HYPE_MARKET | Massive search, tiny sales | Viral but no buyers | VERY HIGH |
| 👑 MONOPOLIZED | High sales concentration | Few sellers dominate | MEDIUM |
Reality Score
Combined score (0-100) based on multiple factors:
| Component | Weight | Description |
|---|
| SSR Score | 40% | Search-to-sale ratio |
| Sales Velocity | 30% | Total monthly sales volume |
| Market Distribution | 20% | How spread out are sales |
| Trend Stability | 10% | Consistent or volatile |
Reality Score Classification
| Level | Score | Meaning |
|---|
| 🟢 VERIFIED | 70-100 | Strong, real demand |
| 🟡 MODERATE | 50-70 | Real but verify further |
| 🟠 QUESTIONABLE | 30-50 | May be inflated |
| 🔴 WEAK | 0-30 | Likely not real demand |
⚠️ MANDATORY: Charts & Display Rules
- Generate charts by default for full analytical reports — use
--chart with an output directory unless the user asks for a quick text-only result or chart data is unavailable.
- Send generated charts to the user — when charts are created, share all chart PNGs immediately.
- All chart styling is driven by
ecommerce_chart_helpers.py which reads from chart_style.json (derived from references/display-rules.md). Do NOT hardcode colors in scripts.
Usage
python3 scripts/demand_validator.py '{"keyword": "yoga mat"}'
python3 scripts/demand_validator.py '{"keyword": "face wash", "market": "UK"}'
python3 scripts/demand_validator.py '{"keyword": "kombucha"}' --chart /tmp/output
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Default | Description |
|---|
keyword | string | required | Keyword to analyze |
market | string | | Marketplace (US/UK/DE/FR/CA/JP) |
Output Structure
The output will be a structured markdown report, following this format:
Market Demand Validation Report: [Keyword]
1. Executive Summary
- Keyword: [keyword]
- Marketplace: [marketplace]
- Products Analyzed: [products_analyzed]
- Market Reality Assessment: [reality_score.level] [reality_score.emoji]
- Demand Pattern: [demand_pattern.pattern] [demand_pattern.emoji] - [demand_pattern.description]
- Core Insight: [insights.summary]
2. Demand & Sales Overview
| Metric | Value | Unit/Description |
|---|
| Monthly Search Volume | [search_data.monthly_search_volume] | (Source: [search_data.source]) |
| Total Monthly Units Sold | [sales_data.total_monthly_units] | Units |
| Total Monthly Revenue | [sales_data.total_monthly_revenue] | |
| Avg Sales per Product | [sales_data.avg_sales_per_product] | Units/Product |
| Avg Revenue per Product | [sales_data.avg_revenue_per_product] | /Product |
| Search-to-Sale Ratio (SSR) | [demand_metrics.search_to_sale_ratio]% | |
| Revenue per Search | [demand_metrics.revenue_per_search] | |
| Buying Intent | [demand_metrics.buying_intent] | |
3. Market Reality Assessment
| Metric | Value | Description |
|---|
| Reality Score | [reality_score.score] | |
| Reality Level | [reality_score.level] | |
| Cross-Platform Confidence | [reality_score.cross_platform_confidence]% | |
| Demand Pattern | [demand_pattern.pattern] | [demand_pattern.description] (Risk: [demand_pattern.risk]) |
4. Stability Analysis
| Indicator | Value |
|---|
| Sales Distribution | [stability_analysis.sales_distribution] |
| Top 10 Share | [stability_analysis.top_10_share]% |
| Variance Level | [stability_analysis.variance_level] |
| Stability Score | [stability_analysis.stability_score] |
5. Cross-Platform Validation
- Amazon Brand Analytics (ABA) Details:
| ABA Metric | Value |
|---|
| Search Frequency Rank (SFR) | [cross_platform_validation.aba.search_frequency_rank] |
| SFR Trend | [cross_platform_validation.aba.sfr_direction] |
| Volume Tier | [cross_platform_validation.aba.volume_tier] |
| Market Concentration | [cross_platform_validation.aba.market_concentration] |
| ASIN | Product Name | Click Share |
|---|
| [cross_platform_validation.aba.top_asins[0].asin] | [cross_platform_validation.aba.top_asins[0].title] | [cross_platform_validation.aba.top_asins[0].share]% |
| [cross_platform_validation.aba.top_asins[1].asin] | [cross_platform_validation.aba.top_asins[1].title] | [cross_platform_validation.aba.top_asins[1].share]% |
| [cross_platform_validation.aba.top_asins[2].asin] | [cross_platform_validation.aba.top_asins[2].title] | [cross_platform_validation.aba.top_asins[2].share]% |
- Other Platform Validation:
| Platform | Metric | Value | Validation Status |
|---|
| eBay | Units Sold | [cross_platform_validation.ebay.sold_count] | Demand Level: [cross_platform_validation.ebay.demand_level], Verified: [cross_platform_validation.ebay.demand_verified] |
| TikTok | Product Count | [cross_platform_validation.tiktok.product_count] | Opportunity: [cross_platform_validation.tiktok.opportunity], Signal: [cross_platform_validation.tiktok.signal] |
| Keepa | BSR Trend | [cross_platform_validation.keepa.bsr_trend] | Momentum: [cross_platform_validation.keepa.bsr_momentum], Seasonality: [cross_platform_validation.keepa.seasonality] |
6. Actionable Recommendations
- [First recommendation from
insights.recommendations]
- [Second recommendation from
insights.recommendations]
- ... (Listing all key recommendations)
7. Attached Visualizations
- Search vs Sales (1_search_vs_sales.png)
- Sales Distribution Histogram (2_sales_distribution.png)
- Reality Score Gauge (3_reality_score.png)
Charts Generated
| Chart | Description | File |
|---|
| Search vs Sales | Bar comparison | 1_search_vs_sales.png |
| Sales Distribution | Histogram curve | 2_sales_distribution.png |
| Reality Score | Gauge visualization | 3_reality_score.png |
Insights Generated
| Insight | Trigger |
|---|
| Real Demand Verified | Reality score > 70 |
| Hidden Gem Found | HIDDEN_GEM pattern |
| Window Shoppers Warning | WINDOW_SHOPPERS pattern |
| Hype Market Alert | HYPE_MARKET pattern |
| Monopolized Market | Top 10 share > 80% |
| High Buying Intent | SSR > 5% |
| Low Conversion | SSR < 1% |
| ABA High Search Demand | SFR ≤ 1000 (VERY_HIGH tier) |
| ABA Fragmented Market | Top 3 click share < 40% total |
ABA (Brand Analytics) Details
Two separate queries are made to the ABA intelligent query API:
-
SFR Trend — 12-week Search Frequency Rank history
- Lower rank = more popular
- Trend direction: RISING / STABLE / DECLINING
- Volume tier: VERY_HIGH (≤1000), HIGH (≤5000), MEDIUM (≤20000), LOW (≤100000)
-
Click Share — Top 3 clicked ASINs and their click share %
- Market concentration: MONOPOLY (top1 > 30%), CONCENTRATED (top3 > 40%), FRAGMENTED (else)
- Used to assess whether new products can capture clicks
⚠️ Note: The region parameter must be uppercase (e.g., US, UK, DE). Lowercase will return empty data.
Category Cleaner Integration
This skill uses the category cleaner to remove noise products:
- Accessories vs main products
- Different product types with same keyword
- Irrelevant items
Example: "yoga mat" removes mat bags, straps, towels.
Workflow Integration
📊 Validation Phase
├── demand-validator → Validate demand is real ← YOU ARE HERE
└── price-history-analyzer → Check for price wars
└── product-validator → Validate product data
Real-World Examples
| Keyword | Search | Sales | SSR | Pattern |
|---|
| Face Wash | 899K | 1.25M | 138.6% | VERIFIED (repeat purchases) |
| Kombucha | 201K | 128K | 63.6% | REAL_DEMAND |
| Stainless Steel Lunch Box | 37K | 17.8K | 48.2% | HIDDEN_GEM |
Limitations
- Sales estimates are approximations
- Search volume from Jungle Scout may lag
- Category cleaner may be aggressive
- High-repeat-purchase products show SSR > 100%
- ABA click share only returns Top 3 ASINs (API limitation)
- ABA requires uppercase region code (US/UK/DE/FR/CA/JP)
Environment Variables
| Variable | Required | Description |
|---|
NEXSCOPE_PROXY_BASE | Yes | NexScope proxy base URL |
NEXSCOPE_API_KEY | Yes | NexScope proxy API key |
References
references/display-rules.md — Chart styling guidelines
