What is my average order value?
Last updated
Both from the same report and the same date range, usually a month.
Display only. Your figures are read in the currency you pick — nothing is converted and no exchange rate is applied.
Order revenue, without shipping and tax.
Orders placed in the same period.
Enter the revenue your store took over a period and the number of orders it came from. There is no average order value until both are in.
- Revenue for a periodNeeded
- Orders in the same periodNeeded
- Units sold, for units per orderOptional
- Sell the second item as a set
A bundle gives a shopper a reason to add one more item. Work out how deep a bundle discount can go before it eats the margin. Price a bundle.
- Put free shipping just above the typical basket
A threshold slightly above your current order value gives shoppers a target to reach. Find the line that lifts orders without giving shipping away. Set a threshold.
- Offer the add-on at the moment of decision
A related product shown in the cart, or a gift above a spend level, works on shoppers who have already chosen to buy. Keep the offer relevant to what is in the basket.
No benchmark is used: the average comes only from the numbers you enter. The currency is a label only and nothing is converted. The worked examples stay in US dollars.
Nothing you type is sent anywhere. There is no account, no install and no store connection.
Revenue, orders and the items inside them
Average order value is what a typical order at your store is worth, the revenue from a period shared out across the orders that produced it, so a skincare brand that took 48,600 dollars from 900 orders in a month had an average order value of 54 dollars.
No benchmark is used: the average comes only from your own revenue and orders. To raise it, price a set with the bundle pricing calculator or set a target with the free-shipping threshold tool.
Two figures give the average; a third tells you where it comes from. Pull all three from the same report and the same date range.
- Revenue
- Order revenue for the period, before refunds if you want the value shoppers chose at checkout, or after them if you want what you kept. Pick one and keep it, and leave shipping and tax out unless you want them counted in the average.
- Number of orders
- Orders placed in the same period, counted once each. A split shipment is still one order, and a cancelled order should come out of both the count and the revenue.
- Units sold
- Optional. Every item across those orders, so three candles in one order is three units. It is what separates a store with big baskets from a store with expensive items.
- Units per order
- How many items the average basket holds. Close to one means most shoppers buy a single thing, and a second item is the biggest opportunity; well above one means baskets are already built and price per item matters more.
- Average item price
- Revenue per unit sold. Together with units per order it explains the average order value: the same 54 dollars can come from two 27 dollar items or one 54 dollar item, and the two call for different fixes.
Nudgesmart is available on the Shopify App Store. Browse the template library or see what it costs.
Order value at six stores, and what drives it
Six imaginary shops in US dollars, chosen to show different basket shapes rather than targets. The table is generated by the code behind the calculator above.
| Scenario | Revenue | Orders | AOV | Units per order | Item price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skincare brand, one month | $48,600.00 | 900 | $54.00 | 1.90 | $28.42 |
| Furniture store, one month | $186,000.00 | 310 | $600.00 | 1.20 | $500.00 |
| Phone case shop, single-item orders | $11,250.00 | 450 | $25.00 | 1.00 | $25.00 |
| Coffee roaster, bags and gear | $23,400.00 | 720 | $32.50 | 3.00 | $10.83 |
| Fashion boutique, no unit count | $64,000.00 | 820 | $78.05 | — | — |
| Toy store, holiday month | $39,900.00 | 950 | $42.00 | 2.60 | $16.15 |
What an average order hides
A few large orders pull the average up
One wholesale order or a single big spender can lift AOV for the month without most shoppers changing anything. If a handful of orders are far above the rest, look at the median order too.
Discounts can raise AOV and lower profit
A spend-more-save-more offer often lifts order value while cutting the margin on every order that uses it. Judge a change in AOV together with gross margin, not on its own.
New and returning customers differ
First orders are often smaller than repeat ones, so a month with many new customers can show a lower AOV while the business is doing well. Compare like with like where you can.
Seasonal months are not a baseline
Gift seasons and sale events change what people buy and how much. Measure the effect of an AOV tactic against the same season, not against a quiet month.
Returns come back out of it
An order that is returned in full still counted toward the average on the day it was placed. In categories with heavy returns, AOV after refunds is the more honest figure.
Average order value questions
How do I calculate average order value?
Enter your revenue for a period and the number of orders in the same period, and the calculator returns the average value of an order. 48,600 dollars from 900 orders is an AOV of 54 dollars. Add units sold to see how many items the average order holds.
What is units per order and why does it matter?
It is the average number of items in a basket. In the first worked example the skincare brand sells 1.9 items an order at about 28 dollars each; the phone case shop sells exactly one item an order. The first can work on price per item, the second has more to gain from a second item.
How can I increase my average order value?
The usual levers are bundles that make a second item attractive, a free-shipping threshold set a little above today’s typical order, and add-ons offered in the cart. This site has a separate calculator for bundle pricing and for the free-shipping threshold, linked under the answer.
Should shipping and tax be included?
Usually not, because neither is money the shopper chose to spend on your products. Whatever you decide, use the same definition every period, or the average will move for reasons that have nothing to do with the basket.
Why does the calculator reject my unit count?
Because it is lower than the number of orders, and every order contains at least one item. That usually means the two figures come from different reports or different date ranges.
Does this need my store data?
No. Read the three figures off your sales report and key them in; the page keeps them to itself.
The basket is still open while the shopper is on the page.
Cart value is one of the 147 targeting conditions in Nudgesmart, so an offer for the next item can appear to baskets below a level you choose, with average order value reported beside attributed revenue.
