The metrics every online seller must track to stay profitable
Learn the seven critical metrics that determine if your online store is actually profitable. You'll discover why most sellers are losing money on sales (because margins don't account for all costs), how to know which customers are worth keeping, and which products you should stop selling. You'll understand the relationship between shipping costs, refund rates, and true profit — and how to measure whether your marketing is actually working.
Gross margin tells you how much money is left after paying for what you sold. It's one of the most important numbers in any business.
4 min read · Beginner
AOV is the average amount customers spend per transaction. Increasing it is one of the highest-leverage moves in eCommerce.
3 min read · Beginner
CLV is the total revenue you expect from a customer over their entire relationship with you. It changes everything about how you think about acquisition costs.
4 min read · Intermediate
Conversion rate measures the percentage of visitors who buy. It's the multiplier on all your traffic investment.
3 min read · Beginner
Refund rate measures the percentage of orders that are returned or refunded. High rates destroy margin — here's how to track and reduce them.
3 min read · Beginner
Repeat purchase rate tells you what percentage of customers buy more than once. It's the clearest signal of whether customers love your product.
3 min read · Beginner
Inventory turnover measures how many times you sell through your stock in a year. High turnover means efficient capital use; low means dead stock.
3 min read · Intermediate
ROAS measures revenue generated per pound spent on advertising. The essential metric for evaluating paid marketing.
3 min read · Beginner
Customer acquisition cost (CAC) is the total sales and marketing spend needed to win one new customer. Pair it with lifetime value to assess whether your growth is commercially sustainable.
5 min read · Beginner
The Buy Box is the section on Amazon (and similar marketplaces) where customers click to add to cart. Winning it is crucial for marketplace sellers.
4 min read · Intermediate
Sell-through rate tells you what percentage of stock you've sold in a given period. Essential for managing inventory and avoiding markdowns.
3 min read · Beginner
Follow this learning path to master ecommerce metrics mastery: sell more, smarter.
Get Started Free →