Shopify metrics glossary
in plain language

What your store kept after every cost: product, shipping, fees, ad spend and the fixed costs of running it.

What each sale contributes toward fixed costs and profit, once the costs of making and selling it are covered.

Return on ad spend: the revenue a platform says its ads brought in, for every dollar you spent on them.

Marketing efficiency ratio: total store revenue divided by total marketing spend, across every channel.

What it costs to win one new customer, counting all marketing spend and all new customers.

Customer lifetime value: the revenue or profit a customer brings in over their whole relationship with your store.

Average order value: the average amount a customer spends per order.

The share of customers who come back and buy again.

Grouping customers by when they first bought, to see how each group behaves over time.

How much of your revenue comes from first-time customers, and how much from people who bought before.

What a discount code actually cost in margin, against the extra sales it brought in.

Which products actually make money once product, shipping, fees and ad spend are counted.