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Gross merchandise value

What is GMV (gross merchandise value)?

GMV (gross merchandise value) is the total value of goods sold through a store or marketplace before fees, returns and discounts.

Formula

GMV = units sold × selling price

A store that sells 2,000 items at an average of $45 has $90,000 of GMV. If $9,000 comes back as returns, net sales are $81,000.

A real store example

Quince homepage: over 500 Meta ads linked here.

Quince sells cashmere, leather, silk and home goods from one catalog, with ads sending shoppers to the homepage. GMV adds up every order across that catalog before returns, which is why it's the headline number for big catalogs and marketplaces.

Open the pageSee their ads

How to improve GMV on your store

  1. Report net sales next to GMV

    GMV ignores returns and discounts. Net sales shows what you actually keep, so read them together.

  2. Grow orders and order value

    GMV is orders × order value. Bundles raise one; better pages and offers raise the other.

  3. Watch returns by product

    A product with high GMV and high returns may be selling the wrong promise. Fix the page before buying more traffic.

Ask Replo: "email me GMV, returns and net sales every Monday".

Report my sales

GMV questions

Is GMV the same as revenue?
No. GMV is the total value of goods sold. Revenue is what the business keeps: for a marketplace, its fees; for a store, sales after returns and discounts. GMV is always the bigger number.
Why do marketplaces report GMV?
Because their revenue is a cut of what sellers sell. GMV shows the size of the activity on the platform, while revenue shows the slice the marketplace earns from it.
Should a DTC brand track GMV?
It can, but net sales is more useful day to day, because it accounts for returns and discounts. GMV is handy for showing total demand, such as during a sale.

Related terms

Browse the glossary

AOV

AOV (average order value) is the average amount a customer spends per order: revenue divided by number of orders.

MER

MER (marketing efficiency ratio) is total store revenue divided by total marketing spend, across every channel.

SKU

A SKU (stock keeping unit) is a unique code a store gives each product variant it sells, so it can track inventory and sales for that exact item.

Omnichannel

Omnichannel is selling across your own site, retail stores, marketplaces and social as one connected experience, with shared inventory and customer data.

Keep reading