The most important metrics and kpis for e-commerce

E-commerce analytics platforms track hundreds of metrics. Revenue, orders, conversion rate, bounce rate, session duration, cart abandonment, traffic sources, device types, geographic data, product views, add-to-cart rate, checkout initiation—the list extends infinitely.

Most metrics are noise. Five metrics drive 90% of actionable decisions for stores under $500k annual revenue. Track these daily. Check others weekly or monthly. Ignore the rest unless specific problems require investigation.

Five KPIs every e-commerce store should track

1. Revenue with period comparison

What it measures: Total sales this period compared to previous period (yesterday vs day before, this week vs last week, this month vs last month).

Why it matters: Revenue of $12,400 this month sounds good but tells incomplete story without context. Revenue of $12,400 versus $9,800 last month (up 27%) indicates momentum. Revenue of $12,400 versus $14,100 last month (down 12%) signals investigation needed.

What to do with it: Consistent week-over-week growth (3-4 consecutive weeks) validates current strategy. Declining revenue for 2+ weeks requires diagnosis—check traffic volume, conversion rate, and average order value to identify whether traffic drop, conversion problem, or lower order sizes caused the decline.

How to check: Most platforms show revenue prominently. Enable period comparison in settings to see current versus previous automatically. Daily checking wastes time—use weekly comparison for tactical decisions.

2. Conversion rate by device

What it measures: Percentage of visitors who purchase, segmented by desktop versus mobile versus tablet.

Why it matters: Overall 2.5% conversion rate looks acceptable until you discover desktop converts at 4.2% while mobile converts at 1.3%. That gap reveals mobile experience problems costing 30-40% of potential mobile sales. Blended metrics hide these critical discrepancies.

Typical patterns: Desktop conversion typically runs 1.5-2× higher than mobile for most stores. If your gap exceeds 2×, mobile optimization should be priority one. Tablet usually falls between desktop and mobile.

What to do with it: Large mobile-desktop gap indicates mobile-specific problems—slow load times, difficult checkout, poor mobile navigation. Test mobile experience personally. Add items to cart on your phone. Try checking out. If it frustrates you, it frustrates customers. Fix mobile checkout first, then navigation, then load times.

3. Traffic by source

What it measures: Where visitors come from—organic search, paid ads, email, social media, direct, referral.

Why it matters: Traffic sources perform differently. Email subscribers convert at 5-8%. Organic search converts at 2-4%. Paid ads convert at 1.5-3%. Social media converts at 0.5-2%. Knowing source mix explains overall performance and guides marketing budget allocation.

Example decision: You spend $500 monthly on Facebook ads driving 1,000 visitors converting at 1.2% (12 sales). You spend $200 monthly on email platform driving 400 visitors converting at 6% (24 sales). Email delivers 2× sales at 40% the cost. Reallocate budget accordingly—increase email investment, reduce or eliminate Facebook spending.

What to track: Don’t just count visitors per source. Track conversion rate and revenue per visitor by source. High-traffic source with low conversion wastes effort. Low-traffic source with high conversion deserves more investment.

4. Average order value

What it measures: Total revenue divided by number of orders equals average amount customers spend per transaction.

Why it matters: Revenue can increase from more orders (higher traffic or conversion) or larger orders (higher AOV). Understanding which drives growth informs strategy. If orders are flat but revenue is up 20%, customers are buying more per transaction—upsells or bundles are working. If orders are up 20% but revenue is up only 8%, average order value declined—customers buying cheaper items or fewer items per order.

Typical AOV by category: Fashion and accessories: $50-100. Electronics: $150-300. Home goods: $75-150. Food and beverage: $30-60. Health and beauty: $40-80. Compare to your category benchmark to gauge performance.

How to improve: Product bundling (buy 3 items, save 10%). Free shipping thresholds (spend $75 for free shipping when AOV is $60). Upsells at checkout (customers who bought X also bought Y). Cross-sells on product pages. Volume discounts.

5. Cart abandonment rate

What it measures: Percentage of people who add items to cart but don’t complete purchase, calculated as (carts created − completed orders) ÷ carts created × 100.

Why it matters: Industry average cart abandonment is 70%. If yours is 85%, checkout friction is destroying sales opportunity. If yours is 55%, checkout works well—focus optimization elsewhere. This metric isolates checkout effectiveness independent from traffic quality or product interest.

Common causes of high abandonment: Unexpected shipping costs revealed at checkout (reduces cart completion 25-30%). Required account creation (reduces completion 20-25%). Complicated checkout forms (reduces completion 15-20%). Limited payment options (reduces completion 10-15%). Slow checkout page load (reduces completion 5-10% per extra second).

Fix priority: If cart abandonment exceeds 75%, fixing checkout delivers faster ROI than any other optimization. Show shipping costs earlier. Enable guest checkout. Simplify forms. Add more payment options. Optimize load times.

How to use these five KPIs together

Check all five weekly in one 5-minute review session. Note changes exceeding 15% from previous period—these warrant investigation.

Diagnostic patterns:

Revenue down, traffic down, conversion stable → traffic problem. Check ad performance, SEO rankings, email deliverability.

Revenue down, traffic stable, conversion down → conversion problem. Check by device—if mobile dropped specifically, mobile UX issue. If all devices dropped, investigate product pricing changes, site speed issues, or trust signal problems.

Revenue stable, orders down, AOV up → customers buying fewer times but spending more per order. Often indicates shift toward higher-priced items. Acceptable if profit margins are healthy.

Revenue stable, orders up, AOV down → more customers buying but spending less each. Common when adding entry-level products. Watch profit margins—more small orders can reduce profitability despite flat revenue.

Cart abandonment spikes → checkout changed something (new shipping policy, removed payment method, technical bug) or external factor (competitor launched promotion, seasonal shopping pattern).

Quick questions

Should I track more KPIs as my store grows?

Add customer lifetime value when repeat purchases become significant. Add inventory turnover when carrying costs matter. Add marketing channel ROI when spending exceeds $2,000 monthly. But these five remain core regardless of size. More metrics aren’t better—actionable metrics are better.

How often should I check these five KPIs?

Weekly minimum, daily maximum. Daily checking creates false urgency over normal variance. Weekly checking provides enough signal to catch real trends without noise. Monthly is too slow—problems fester for four weeks before you notice.

What if my platform doesn’t track all five natively?

Add Google Analytics (free) for traffic source and device data. Use platform native analytics for revenue, orders, and cart abandonment. Calculate average order value manually if needed (revenue ÷ orders). Spreadsheet tracking works if necessary—data matters more than tool sophistication.

Peasy automatically sends your key analytics to your team every morning—eliminate daily dashboard checks. Starting at $49/month. Try free for 14 days.