8 essential KPIs every e-commerce store should track daily

Open Google Analytics. How many metrics do you see?

Hundreds. Maybe thousands if you count custom dimensions, segments, and calculated fields.

Now open Shopify Analytics. Dozens more metrics. Facebook Ads Manager? Another few dozen. Email platform? Traffic sources? Product performance?

Here's the paradox: the more metrics you have access to, the harder it becomes to know what actually matters.

Most e-commerce operators fall into one of two traps. Either they track everything (overwhelmed, paralyzed, unable to see patterns in the noise), or they track almost nothing (flying blind, making decisions based on gut feel instead of data).

The truth is that 8 core KPIs tell you 90% of what you need to know about your store's health. Not 80 metrics. Not 3. Eight.

These eight metrics answer the fundamental questions every e-commerce operator needs answered daily: Are we making money? Are we getting customers? Is our site converting? Where is traffic coming from? What's selling?

Everything else is noise, or it's detailed investigation for specific problems—not daily monitoring.

If you're drowning in dashboards with dozens of metrics, or you're not sure which numbers actually matter, this guide breaks down exactly what to track.

Why This Problem Exists

The metric overload problem exists because analytics platforms want to show you everything they can measure, not what you should actually monitor.

Google Analytics was built for enterprise marketing teams with dedicated analysts. It tracks everything because different roles need different metrics: SEO teams want organic traffic details, paid teams want campaign attribution, product teams want user flows.

But you're an e-commerce operator. You don't have separate teams for SEO, paid, product, and analytics. You're one person, or a small team, trying to run an entire business.

You need metrics that answer operational questions:

• Is the business healthy today?

• What needs my attention?

• Which products should I reorder?

• Are my marketing efforts working?

The 8 essential KPIs answer these questions. Everything else is supplementary.

What Doesn't Work

Tracking everything: Creating dashboards with 30-50 metrics. You can't process that much information daily, so you end up ignoring most of it or feeling overwhelmed.

Tracking only revenue: "As long as sales are up, everything's fine." You miss conversion rate drops, traffic declines, or AOV changes that signal problems before they hit revenue.

Tracking vanity metrics: Focusing on page views, social followers, or email list size without connecting them to actual business outcomes (sales, orders, profit).

Different metrics every week: Checking sales one day, conversion rate another day, traffic sources randomly. Inconsistency makes pattern recognition impossible.

Real Solutions

Here are the 8 KPIs that actually matter for e-commerce, why they matter, and how to use them together.

The 8 Essential KPIs

1. Sales (Revenue)

What it is: Total revenue in your currency (yesterday, this week, this month)

Why it matters: The fundamental measure of business health. Everything else supports this number.

What to track:

• Absolute number (45,000 kr)

• Comparison to yesterday

• Comparison to last week

• Comparison to same period last year (critical for seasonality)

Red flags:

• Down >20% week-over-week with no obvious reason

• Down compared to same period last year (suggests losing ground)

Actions:

• If down: investigate conversion rate, traffic, AOV

• If up: understand what's working (which products, which channels)

2. Order Count

What it is: Number of completed transactions

Why it matters: Tells you customer acquisition separate from how much they're spending. Sales can be flat while orders drop (higher AOV) or vice versa.

What to track:

• Daily order count

• Week-over-week trend

• Orders per product (which items are moving)

Red flags:

• Orders down while sales are flat (fewer customers buying more—risky)

• Orders up but sales flat (lower AOV—investigate pricing or mix)

Actions:

• Track alongside sales and AOV to understand the full picture

• Use for inventory planning (order velocity)

3. Average Order Value (AOV)

What it is: Sales ÷ Orders (how much each customer spends on average)

Why it matters: Shows whether customers are buying more or less per transaction. Affects inventory strategy, shipping costs, and profitability.

What to track:

• Absolute AOV

• Trend over time (is it increasing or decreasing?)

• AOV by traffic source (paid vs. organic vs. email)

Red flags:

• Declining AOV (customers buying cheaper items or fewer items per order)

• Huge spike (possible fraud or data error)

Actions:

• If declining: test bundling, free shipping thresholds, upsells

• If increasing: double down on what's working

4. Conversion Rate

What it is: (Orders ÷ Sessions) × 100 = % of visitors who buy

Why it matters: The efficiency of your store. You can increase revenue by getting more traffic OR converting better. Conversion rate tells you if your site is working.

What to track:

• Overall conversion rate

• Conversion rate by device (mobile vs. desktop)

• Conversion rate by traffic source

Industry benchmarks:

• 1-2%: Average for most e-commerce

• 2-3%: Good

• 3%+: Excellent

Red flags:

• Drop >0.5 percentage points week-over-week

• Mobile conversion <50% of desktop (mobile experience broken)

Actions:

• If dropping: check checkout flow, site speed, product availability

• If low: investigate UX, pricing, trust signals

5. Sessions (Traffic)

What it is: Number of visits to your store

Why it matters: The top of your funnel. More traffic = more potential customers. But only matters if conversion rate is healthy.

What to track:

• Total sessions daily/weekly

• Sessions by channel (organic, paid, direct, social, email)

• Trend over time

Red flags:

• Traffic down >20% with no seasonal explanation

• Heavy dependence on one channel (risk if that channel disappears)

Actions:

• If down: check if SEO rankings dropped, ads paused, email sends stopped

• If up: identify source and optimize for more

6. Top 5 Products (by Revenue)

What it is: Which products generated the most sales yesterday/this week

Why it matters: Immediate inventory decisions. Shows what's trending. Helps prioritize marketing.

What to track:

• Top 5 products by revenue

• Revenue trend for each (up or down vs. last week)

• Inventory status for top performers

Red flags:

• Top product suddenly drops (out of stock? competitor launched similar?)

• New product in top 5 you weren't expecting (capitalize on it)

Actions:

• Reorder inventory for trending products

• Feature top performers in email/social

• Investigate declining performers

7. Top Traffic Channels

What it is: Where your visitors are coming from (organic search, paid ads, direct, social, email, referral)

Why it matters: Shows which marketing efforts are working. Helps allocate budget. Identifies risk (over-dependence on one channel).

What to track:

• % of traffic from each channel

• Conversion rate by channel (which traffic converts best)

• Trend over time (which channels are growing/shrinking)

Red flags:

• >50% traffic from one channel (risky dependence)

• Paid traffic high but conversion low (wasting money)

• Organic search declining (SEO problem)

Actions:

• Invest more in high-converting channels

• Diversify if over-dependent on one source

• Investigate channel-specific conversion issues

8. Top Pages (Content/Landing Pages)

What it is: Which pages are getting the most traffic

Why it matters: Shows what content is working. Helps prioritize content creation. Identifies opportunities.

What to track:

• Top 5-10 pages by traffic

• Traffic trend (growing or declining)

• Conversion rate per page (which pages lead to sales)

Red flags:

• High-traffic page with terrible conversion (optimize it)

• Product page getting traffic but no sales (pricing? description?)

Actions:

• Create more content like top-performing pages

• Optimize high-traffic, low-conversion pages

• Feature trending products more prominently

How These 8 KPIs Work Together

The power isn't in any single metric—it's in how they relate:

Example 1: Sales down 15%

• Check orders: Also down 15%? → Traffic or conversion problem

• Check AOV: AOV down, orders flat? → Customers buying cheaper items

• Check traffic: Down 20%? → Traffic is the root cause

• Check channels: Organic down 40%? → SEO issue, not ads

Example 2: Sales flat

• Check orders: Down 10%? → Fewer customers

• Check AOV: Up 12%? → Fewer customers spending more (risky—need more customers)

• Check conversion rate: Flat? → Traffic down is the issue

• Check channels: Paid down 30%, organic up 15%? → Need to restore paid traffic

Example 3: Sales up 20%

• Check top products: One product up 80%? → Capitalize on trend

• Check channels: Email traffic up 50%? → Recent campaign working

• Check conversion: Up 0.3pp? → Site improvements helping

Peasy connects to Shopify, WooCommerce, and Google Analytics 4—delivering daily email reports with sales, orders, conversion rate, average order value, sessions, top products, top pages, and top channels—with comparisons showing today vs yesterday, this week vs last week, this month vs last month, and same periods last year. Try free for 14 days.

FAQ

Q: What about profit margins, customer acquisition cost, lifetime value?

Those are important strategic metrics for quarterly or monthly analysis, not daily monitoring. Daily, you need operational metrics (sales, orders, conversion, traffic). Monthly, dive into profitability, CAC, and LTV to guide strategy.

Q: Should I track more KPIs if I'm a larger store?

Maybe 1-3 additional KPIs specific to your business (e.g., return rate if that's a problem, wholesale vs. retail if you have both channels). But resist adding 20 metrics. The power is in consistency and simplicity.

Q: How do I track all 8 KPIs without spending an hour daily?

Use daily email reports that consolidate all 8 in one place with comparisons. Reading a structured report with all 8 KPIs takes 2-3 minutes. Logging into 3 dashboards to piece together the same information takes 20-30 minutes.

Q: What if my store is different and needs different KPIs?

These 8 cover 90% of e-commerce stores. If you're truly different (B2B with long sales cycles, subscription-based, marketplace), adjust. But most stores convince themselves they're unique when they're not. Start with these 8.

Q: How often should I check these KPIs?

Daily for monitoring (2-3 minutes reading an email report). Weekly for deeper analysis (30-60 minutes in dashboards investigating trends). Monthly for strategic decisions (profitability, forecasting, planning).

Q: What if I don't have time to act on what the KPIs tell me?

Then you definitely don't have time to check more metrics. These 8 help you prioritize where to spend your limited time. Sales down + traffic down + organic traffic down = spend time on SEO. That's actionable focus.

Peasy connects to Shopify, WooCommerce, and Google Analytics 4—delivering daily email reports with sales, orders, conversion rate, average order value, sessions, top products, top pages, and top channels—with comparisons showing today vs yesterday, this week vs last week, this month vs last month, and same periods last year. Try free for 14 days.