Average order value is what a customer spends, on average, each time they check out. If your store took $3,000 from 60 orders last month, your AOV is $50. It is the size of the ticket, not the number of tickets.

Every seller has one, whether they look at it or not. A creator selling $9 templates has an AOV close to $9 until they start selling bundles. A skincare brand with a $28 hero product and a $45 free-shipping bar sees its AOV drift toward $50. Knowing the number, and what moves it, is the difference between growing revenue by finding new buyers and growing it with the buyers you already have.

What is average order value?

AOV is total revenue divided by total orders over a period. Revenue here means what customers paid for products, after discounts, and usually before shipping and tax. Some sellers include shipping; the important thing is to pick a definition and keep it, because the number only means something in comparison with itself over time.

It is not the average price of your products. A catalog with a $10 and a $90 item does not have a $50 AOV; the AOV depends on which items sell and how many per order. It is not revenue per customer either. A customer who orders four times a year counts as four orders. That per-customer figure over the whole relationship is customer lifetime value, and AOV is one of its ingredients.

Two neighboring numbers help read it: units per order (how many items in a typical cart) and average unit price. AOV is roughly the product of the two. A store can raise AOV by selling more items per cart, pricier items, or both.

Why it matters

Revenue is visitors × conversion rate × AOV. Traffic costs money, conversion has a ceiling, but AOV can often be lifted by changing the offer rather than the audience.

Take a candle brand with 5,000 sessions a month, a 2% conversion rate and a $32 AOV. That is 100 orders and $3,200. It adds a "buy two, get 15% off" offer and a matching wick trimmer suggested in the cart. Units per order go from 1.2 to 1.7 and AOV lands at $41. Same traffic, same conversion, revenue is now $4,100. The extra $900 a month cost nothing in ads.

AOV also decides what you can afford per order. Payment processing takes a fixed piece plus a percentage, packaging and shipping cost about the same for one candle as for two, and your time per order is constant. A $41 order carries those fixed costs far better than a $32 one. That is why a higher AOV improves margin faster than it improves revenue.

How to calculate it

  • Choose a period. A month is standard; a launch week is fine if you compare it to other launches.
  • Sum the product revenue of all paid orders in that period, after discount codes, before shipping and tax. Exclude cancelled and fully refunded orders.
  • Count the orders in the same period.
  • Divide revenue by orders. Example: $4,720 from 118 orders gives an AOV of $40.
  • Compute it per channel and per customer type. New customers and returning customers often have very different AOVs, and the link-in-bio page usually sells single items while the storefront sells carts.
  • Look at the distribution, not only the average. If half your orders are $12 and a few are $300, the average hides two different behaviors. The median tells you what a typical order looks like.

Benchmarks and examples

AOV is tied to your price list, so global benchmarks are less useful than for other metrics. Still, some orders of magnitude:

  • A creator selling presets, templates or ebooks at $5 to $20: AOV of $10 to $25 when single items dominate, $30 to $50 once bundles exist.
  • Courses and coaching products: $50 to $300, with very few items per order.
  • Small physical brands (cosmetics, candles, accessories, food): $30 to $60, with 1.3 to 2 units per order.
  • Apparel: $50 to $90, driven by two-item carts and size exchanges.
  • Home and furniture: $100 to $300.

Example: a photographer sells three Lightroom preset packs at $15 each. Last month: 210 orders, $3,570, AOV $17. She adds an "all packs" bundle at $35. The next month: 205 orders, $4,920, AOV $24. Fewer orders, 38% more revenue.

Common mistakes

  • Chasing AOV with discounts that erase the margin gain. A $10-off coupon on a $40 cart lifts the perceived value but the revenue per order falls to $30.
  • Setting the free-shipping threshold far above the current AOV. At a $32 AOV, a $75 threshold is out of reach and changes nothing; $40 to $45 does.
  • Comparing AOV across periods with different mixes. A Black Friday AOV inflated by gift orders says nothing about January.
  • Counting only new orders and forgetting returning customers, who usually spend more per order.
  • Forgetting refunds. If 8% of your $60 orders come back, your effective AOV is lower than the dashboard says.

How to improve it

  • Bundle. Group products that make sense together at a price slightly below the sum. Three items at $15 as a $38 pack raises both AOV and units per order.
  • Set a free-shipping threshold just above the current AOV. With a $32 AOV, "free shipping from $40" pushes many carts to add one small item.
  • Suggest an add-on at the right moment. A related accessory on the product page or in the cart. This is cross-selling, and it works best with cheap, obvious complements.
  • Offer a better version. A premium size, a deluxe edition, a course with a call included. This is the upsell, and it lifts the average unit price.
  • Use quantity offers. "Two for $50" instead of $28 each. Consumables (coffee, skincare, socks) respond well.
  • Anchor with a higher tier. A $79 option makes the $45 option look reasonable, even if few people choose $79.
  • Reward larger carts with a discount code. "10% off from $60" costs less than a blanket discount and nudges the number you want to move.

In Roctify

Reports show revenue, orders and AOV per channel and per period, so you can see whether a new bundle or a shipping threshold actually moved the number. Because one shared catalog feeds the link-in-bio page and the storefront, you can compare the AOV of each channel and notice, for example, that the store sells two items per order while the bio page sells one.

Bundles are simply products in the catalog, and discount codes with a minimum order amount are built in, so the two most effective AOV levers need no extra tool. With 0% transaction fees on every plan, an extra $9 per order is $9 for you, minus only the payment provider's processing fee.

FAQ

Should I include shipping in AOV?

Most sellers leave it out, because shipping is a cost you pass through rather than revenue you keep. If you charge a flat shipping fee and want to track the total the customer pays, you can include it, but then include it every month. Never compare an AOV with shipping to one without.

Is a higher AOV always better?

No. Pushing customers to bigger carts with aggressive discounts can lower your margin per order, and forcing bundles can lower the conversion rate. Watch AOV together with conversion rate and margin. The goal is more profit per visitor, not a bigger average for its own sake.

How many orders do I need before AOV is reliable?

A few dozen orders give a usable figure, but a single $300 order in a batch of 30 will skew it. Look at the median next to the average, and wait for at least 50 to 100 orders before you judge the effect of a change.