Top 11 Shopify Metrics to Track for Profitable Store Growth

Tracking everything is overwhelming. Tracking nothing is risky. The sweet spot is a small set of metrics that clearly tell you if your Shopify store is actually making money and growing in a healthy way.

Below are 11 essential Shopify metrics every store owner should understand, how to calculate them, and why they matter.

1. Gross and Net Profit Margin

Revenue alone does not tell you if your store is profitable. Profit margins do.

Gross Profit Margin shows how much is left after covering product costs.
Net Profit Margin shows what is left after all expenses, including marketing, apps, payroll, and overhead.

Formulas

• Gross Profit Margin = [(Total Revenue - Cost of Goods Sold) / Total Revenue] x 100
  
  
• Net Profit Margin = (Net Profit / Total Revenue) x 100
  
  

Healthy ecommerce gross margins often fall somewhere around 20 to 50 percent, while net profit margins are usually closer to 10 percent or lower depending on the niche.

If your margins are thin, you either need better pricing, lower costs, or more efficient marketing.

2. Average Order Value (AOV)

AOV tells you how much a customer spends on average each time they place an order.

Formula

• AOV = Total Revenue / Total Number of Orders
  
  

Why it matters:

• Higher AOV means more revenue from the same amount of traffic
  
  
• It improves the return on your ad spend without increasing clicks
  
  

The average order value for ecommerce from 2016 to 2024 is $144.52. 

Ways to improve AOV include bundles, volume discounts, cross-sells, and free shipping thresholds.

Bounce Rate

Bounce rate measures the percentage of visitors who land on a page and leave without viewing anything else. The average bounce rate for ecommerce websites is 45.68%

Formula

• Bounce Rate (%) = (Number of single page visits / Total number of website visits) x 100
  
  

A high bounce rate often points to:

• Slow pages
  
  
• Weak product messaging
  
  
• Poor mobile experience
  
  
• Irrelevant traffic
  
  

Optimizing key landing pages and product pages for clarity, speed, and relevance can bring this number down and improve conversions.

3. Conversion Rate

Conversion rate shows what percentage of visitors complete a purchase.

Formula

• Conversion Rate (%) = (Number of visitors who purchased / Total number of visitors) x 100
  
  

If traffic is decent but conversions are low, focus on:

• Product page content and images
  
  
• Trust signals such as reviews and policies
  
  
• Checkout friction and payment options
  
  
• Mobile experience
  
  

In Shopify, you can also look at conversion across funnel stages such as add to cart, reach checkout, and purchase to identify where customers drop off.

4. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

CAC tells you how much you spend to acquire a new customer.

Formula

• CAC = Total cost of marketing and sales / Total number of new customers acquired
  
  

If CAC is too close to or higher than your profit per customer, your model will not scale.

Track CAC by channel where possible so you know which ads, campaigns, or platforms bring in cost effective customers and which ones to cut or fix.

5. Customer Lifetime Value (CLV)

CLV estimates how much revenue or profit a customer brings in over the entire relationship with your store.

Simple formula example

• CLV = Number of purchases x Value of purchase x Average customer lifespan
  
  

CLV matters because it helps you:

• Decide how much you can afford to spend on acquisition.
  
  
• Identify and target high value customer segments.
  
  
• Prioritize retention programs and loyalty efforts.
  
  
• Forecast revenue and long-term business growth based on customer quality.
  
  
• Evaluate how effective your marketing, sales, and operational strategies truly are.
  
  

Increasing CLV usually has more impact on long term profit than just chasing more first time buyers.

6. Cart Abandonment Rate (CAR)

Did you know that around 70% of online shopping carts are abandoned? Most shoppers who add to cart never complete the checkout. Cart Abandonment Rate shows how often this happens.

Formula

First calculate the cart completion rate:

• Cart Completion Rate = (Number of completed purchases / Number of carts created) x 100

Then:

• Cart Abandonment Rate = 100 - Cart Completion Rate
  
  

High abandonment can point to:

• Unexpected shipping costs
  
  
• Limited payment options
  
  
• Slow or buggy checkout
  
  
• Forced account creation
  
  

Small tweaks in checkout can significantly increase recovered revenue.

7. Return on Investment (ROI)

ROI measures how much you get back for what you put into your business or a specific campaign.

Basic formula

• ROI = (Return from investment - Cost of investment) / Cost of investment
  
  

ROI is influenced by metrics like:

• Cost of Good Sold (CoGS): the total cost of producing/acquiring products for sale. Low CoGS means you’re spending less on a product while selling it at your set price, increasing ROI.

• Return on Ad Spend (RoAS): the returns you made for every dollar you spent on marketing. More sales for each ad means increased overall ROI.

• Average Order Value (AOV), Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC), Inventory Turnover rate, Conversion Rate, Gross and Net Profit Margin. Even Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) can be used to determine long-term ROI.

If ROI is low or negative, you need to either raise prices, cut costs, improve AOV and CLV, or shift budget to higher performing channels.

8. Inventory Turnover Rate

Inventory Turnover Rate shows how quickly you sell through and replenish your stock.

Formula

• Inventory Turnover Rate = Cost of Goods Sold / Average Inventory Value
  
  

Why it matters:

• Track how fast products are sold and replaced
• Discover products with high sales
• Identify slow moving products
• Understand the value of your product lineup
  
  

Tracking this metric helps you plan purchasing, avoid dead stock, and lean into products that actually move.

9. Average Session Duration

Average Session Duration shows how long visitors stay on your site during a visit.

Formula

• Average Session Duration = Total duration of all sessions / Total number of sessions
  
  

Longer, engaged sessions usually mean:

• Visitors are exploring multiple products
  
  
• Content is relevant and helpful
  
  
• There is a higher chance of adding to cart or buying
  
  

If your session duration is very low, review your traffic quality, content, and navigation. It’s important to increase your average session duration as much as possible. According to Databox benchmarks, the average session duration for B2B companies is 77.61 seconds.

10. Traffic Sources

Traffic sources show where visitors are coming from, for example:

• Organic search
  
  
• Paid search
  
  
• Paid social
  
  
• Email
  
  
• Direct
  
  
• Referrals and affiliates
  
  

There is no formal formula here. The goal is to compare sessions, revenue, and conversion rate by channel over time.

Use this data to:

• Double down on profitable channels
  
  
• Fix underperforming ones
  
  
• Cut spend where traffic is not converting
  
  

Traffic quantity without quality is just noise.

11. Make a Mark in the Market with Metrics

Ecommerce is competitive and noisy. Guessing is expensive.

These 11 metrics give you a clear picture of:

• Whether your store is actually profitable
  
  
• Which channels and products drive results
  
  
• Where customers drop off
  
  
• How to improve both short term revenue and long term customer value
  
  

Instead of chasing every new tactic, start by measuring what matters, then make focused changes and track the impact.

Track Your Shopify Metrics Easily with Report Pundit

You do not need to build every report from scratch to track these metrics.

With Report Pundit you can:

• Use 100+ ready made Shopify report templates that already cover key metrics like sales, profit, AOV, CAC related fields, inventory, and more
  
  
• Customize reports by adding extra fields, filters, tags, and metafields specific to your store
  
  
• Pull data from Shopify and connected platforms in one place
  
  
• Schedule reports to send automatically to your email, Google Drive, FTP, and more
  
  

Thousands of Shopify merchants use Report Pundit to turn raw store data into clear, actionable views that help them grow faster and more profitably.