Metric definitions
Exactly how every number is calculated.
Every figure in SellerTower's analytics has one definition, applied everywhere. This page is the catalogue — and the resolution of every "these two numbers don't match" moment, most of which come down to one rule:
Money counts completed orders only. Order counts usually count every status.
Sales#
| Metric | Definition |
|---|---|
| Net sales | What completed orders actually charged — gross sales less discounts, plus tax and shipping. |
| Gross sales | What the goods sold for, before discounts, tax and shipping. Completed orders only. |
| Transactions | The count of completed orders. |
| Average sale | Net sales ÷ completed orders. |
| Discounts / Tax | The totals taken off and added, across completed orders. (Discounts' change arrow is inverted — more discounting shows red.) |
Orders#
| Metric | Definition |
|---|---|
| Total orders | Every order placed in the window, whatever its status — deliberately a different population from the money above. Counted by the date placed, not completed. |
| Completed / Cancelled | Orders placed in the window that ended in each state; the remainder is still pending, confirmed or processing. |
| Cancellation rate | Cancelled ÷ all placed. |
| Average order value | Net sales ÷ completed orders. |
Returns#
| Metric | Definition |
|---|---|
| Returns raised | Returns opened in the window, any status. |
| Value returned | What the returned goods were sold for — completed returns only. |
| Refunded | Money that actually went out — settled refunds. A store credit counts here when it settles, not when it is spent. |
| Dispositions | Counted per item — a return handled two ways appears under both. |
Inventory#
| Metric | Definition |
|---|---|
| Units on hand / Stock valuation | Current stock; valuation is on-hand units × each batch's own cost price. Snapshot — the date range does not apply. |
| Sell-through rate | Sold ÷ (sold + still on hand) × 100, over the window. |
| Days of inventory | On hand ÷ the window's average daily sales rate. Shows a dash when nothing sold — there is no rate to project from. |
| Shrinkage | Units written off to damage, loss, expiry or theft — read from the coded stock ledger, which is why honest adjustment reasons matter. |
| ABC grades | By cumulative revenue contribution: A = the products making the top 80%, B the next 15%, C the rest (by units when currencies are mixed). |
The change pills#
Every "▲ 12.3%" compares the window to the prior period of the same shape — a month meets the month before, a year-to-date meets the same days last year. When the prior period had nothing, the pill shows nothing at all rather than a meaningless percentage. Comparison itself is a plan capability, and a prior window outside your plan's history is simply not fetched.