September 11, 2026
Acquisition costs are climbing, and conversion plateaus are a reality for even the most established Shopify brands. In this environment, ecommerce operators cannot rely solely on top-of-funnel traffic to drive growth. The most efficient lever for increasing total revenue is often right in front of you: the value of the orders you are already capturing. Understanding how to find average order value (AOV) is the first step toward optimizing your unit economics and increasing your revenue per session (RPS).
At Videowise, we focus on helping brands turn every customer interaction into a high-value transaction through shoppable video commerce. This guide will walk you through the exact formulas for finding AOV, why standard averages can be misleading, and how to use data-driven strategies to encourage shoppers to spend more. By the end of this article, you will have a clear framework for measuring and moving this critical metric.
Quick Answer: To find average order value, divide your total revenue by the total number of orders over a specific time period. The standard formula is: Total Revenue / Total Number of Orders = AOV.
Calculating your baseline AOV is a straightforward process, but the precision of your data matters. To get an accurate number, you must ensure your reporting period for revenue matches the reporting period for your order count.
To find your average order value manually or within your analytics platform, follow these steps:
Step 1: Define your reporting period.
Choose a specific timeframe, such as the last 30 days, the previous quarter, or a specific holiday campaign window.
Step 2: Identify total revenue.
Pull the total revenue generated during that period. For the most accurate operational view, many brands use "Net Revenue" (gross sales minus discounts and returns) to see the actual cash flow.
Step 3: Identify the total number of orders.
Count every completed transaction that occurred within the same timeframe. Do not count individual items sold; count the unique order IDs.
Step 4: Divide revenue by orders.
Apply the formula: Total Revenue ÷ Total Number of Orders = Average Order Value.
If your Shopify store generated $150,000 in net revenue over the month of March from 2,000 completed orders, your calculation would look like this:
$150,000 / 2,000 = $75.
Your AOV for March is $75.
Average order value is more than just a performance indicator; it is a primary component of your Revenue Per Session (RPS). RPS is calculated by multiplying your Conversion Rate (CVR)—the percentage of visitors who make a purchase—by your AOV.
When you increase AOV, you increase the efficiency of every dollar spent on marketing. If your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)—the total cost to acquire one new customer—remains the same while your AOV increases, your profit margins expand immediately.
Key Takeaway: Increasing AOV is often more cost-effective than increasing traffic. While acquisition requires constant spend, AOV optimization focuses on the shoppers already on your site, making it a high-leverage move for profitability.
A common mistake for ecommerce directors is relying exclusively on the "Mean" (the standard average). While the standard formula is useful, it can be heavily skewed by outliers.
If you have a handful of wholesale orders or "whale" customers who spend $1,000 while the typical shopper spends $50, your mean AOV will look artificially high. This can lead to setting unrealistic free shipping thresholds or product bundling strategies that don't resonate with your actual customer base.
To get a deeper understanding of your data, you should also look at:
If your mean AOV is $75 but your mode is $45, your marketing and merchandising should likely focus on moving those $45 shoppers up to $60, rather than assuming everyone is already spending $75.
For operators using Shopify, finding AOV does not require manual spreadsheets. The platform provides this data natively, but you should know where to look to segment it properly.
Once you know how to find your average order value, the goal is to move the needle. Here are the most effective strategies used by high-growth Shopify brands.
Free shipping is the most common psychological nudge in ecommerce. To set an effective threshold, look at your current AOV and set the requirement roughly 20% to 30% higher. If your AOV is $70, offering free shipping at $90 encourages shoppers to add one more "add-on" item to their cart.
Bundling allows you to pair a lead product with high-margin accessories. For example, a skincare brand might bundle a cleanser, toner, and moisturizer into a "Daily Essentials Kit." By offering a slight discount on the bundle compared to buying items individually, you increase the total transaction value while providing a better customer experience.
Upselling happens when you encourage a customer to buy a more expensive version of a product. Cross-selling happens when you suggest a complementary product.
For these to work, they must feel helpful, not intrusive. Our shoppable video platform allows brands to show these products in context. When a shopper watches a video of a model wearing a complete outfit, they are much more likely to "shop the look" and add multiple items to their cart, directly lifting the order value.
Rewards programs can be structured to incentivize higher spending. Instead of just rewarding frequency, reward "Spend Thresholds." For instance, a customer might earn double points on any order over $150. This creates a clear incentive for the shopper to consolidate their purchases into a single, larger transaction.
Standard static images often fail to communicate the full value of premium products. This is where shoppable video becomes a strategic asset. By integrating interactive video directly on the Product Detail Page (PDP)—the page where a specific product is described and sold—you provide the visual proof needed for a customer to commit to a larger purchase.
We have found that when shoppers engage with high-quality video content that features multiple products, their confidence increases. Video reduces the "perceived risk" of a purchase. This is particularly effective for high-ticket items or complex categories like electronics and beauty, where seeing the product in action justifies a higher price point.
Using Videowise analytics, brands can track exactly how video engagement influences AOV. By identifying which videos lead to the largest cart sizes, operators can double down on specific content styles—like "How-To" guides or UGC (User-Generated Content) hauls—that naturally lead to multi-item orders. For practical guidance, explore how to use UGC videos for ecommerce.
A "good" average order value depends entirely on your vertical and your price points. A luxury watch brand will naturally have a higher AOV than a snack food company. However, looking at broad benchmarks can help you determine if you are drastically underperforming your peers.
| Industry Category | Estimated AOV Range (USD) | Key AOV Driver |
|---|---|---|
| Fashion & Apparel | $100 – $160 | "Shop the Look" Bundling |
| Beauty & Personal Care | $60 – $90 | Subscription & Auto-replenish |
| Luxury & Jewelry | $300+ | High-Touch Video & Trust |
| Food & Beverage | $40 – $70 | Multi-packs & Volume Discounts |
| Home & Garden | $120 – $250 | Room Sets & Cross-sells |
Bottom line: Do not compare your beauty brand's AOV to a furniture retailer. Instead, track your own AOV growth month-over-month and compare it to your specific industry peers to gauge success.
Even experienced operators can fall into data traps that lead to poor decision-making.
If your AOV calculation includes the money customers pay for shipping and sales tax, your "Product AOV" is inflated. You aren't actually selling more products; you're just collecting more pass-through costs. For the best insights, calculate AOV based on the subtotal of the items in the cart.
A high AOV is meaningless if it leads to a high return rate. This often happens with "bracketting"—when a customer buys three sizes of the same shirt with the intention of returning two. This inflates your AOV at the point of sale but crushes your margins later. Always monitor your "Net AOV" after returns are processed.
While adding features like bundles or high-resolution videos can help AOV, they must not come at the cost of site speed. Core Web Vitals are a set of metrics used by Google to measure the user experience of a page, including loading speed and visual stability. If your site becomes slow, your conversion rate will drop so fast that the AOV lift won't matter.
Our performance-first infrastructure ensures that shoppable videos and interactive elements load via viewport loading—meaning they only load as they come into view. This keeps your Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)—the time it takes for the main content of a page to load—fast, maintaining your search rankings while you optimize for revenue.
If you find that your AOV is lower than desired, follow this 90-day execution framework.
Phase 1: The Audit (Days 1–15)
Phase 2: The Merchandising Shift (Days 16–45)
Phase 3: Testing and Optimization (Days 46–90)
Finding your average order value is the starting point for a more profitable ecommerce strategy. By moving beyond a simple average and understanding the distribution of your order data, you can create targeted interventions that encourage shoppers to spend more. Whether through smarter shipping thresholds, AI-powered product bundling, or high-conversion shoppable video, increasing AOV is the most direct path to scaling your brand without ballooning your ad budget.
We built our platform to help brands master these metrics. By turning video into an interactive, revenue-generating channel, we help you lift AOV and RPS simultaneously while protecting your site's technical performance. If you are ready to see how shoppable video can impact your bottom line, book a personalized demo to analyze your current content and see where interactive commerce fits into your customer journey.
Bottom line: AOV is your efficiency engine. Every dollar increase in order value is a dollar that works harder for your business.
You should monitor AOV on a monthly basis to identify long-term trends, but it is also helpful to track it weekly during major promotional periods. Tracking AOV alongside your conversion rate allows you to see if your discounts are attracting "low-value" shoppers or if your bundles are successfully increasing the basket size of your core audience.
Not necessarily. If a high AOV is driven by a strategy that significantly lowers your conversion rate or increases your return rate, it can be detrimental to total profit. The goal is to find the "sweet spot" where you maximize Revenue Per Session (RPS) by balancing a healthy order size with a strong intent to buy and keep the products.
Average Order Value (AOV) measures the amount spent in a single transaction. Lifetime Value (LTV) measures the total amount a customer spends with your brand over the entire duration of your relationship. While AOV focuses on the efficiency of a single sale, LTV focuses on long-term retention and repeat purchase behavior.
Yes, indirectly. If a site is slow, shoppers are less likely to browse multiple pages or explore "You May Also Like" recommendations, which leads to smaller cart sizes. Maintaining high Core Web Vitals ensures a smooth browsing experience, which is a prerequisite for effective cross-selling and upselling strategies that drive higher AOV.
