WooCommerce reporting metrics explained #
This reference defines every figure in the WooCommerce sales report so Net Sales, Gross Sales and Total Sales are never ambiguous. It applies to the reports in WooCommerce Advanced Reporting and Statistics.
Sales figures #
| Metric | Definition | How it is calculated |
|---|---|---|
| Net Sales | Before taxes and shipping, after discounts and refunds. | Order total minus tax minus shipping minus shipping tax. |
| Gross Sales | Before taxes, shipping, discounts and refunds. | Net sales plus discounts plus refunds (adds back what was deducted). |
| Total Sales | Before discounts and refunds, after taxes and shipping. | Order total plus discounts plus refunds. |
| Shipping | Shipping charged to customers. | Sum of order shipping totals. |
| Taxes | Tax collected. | Sum of order tax plus shipping tax. |
| Refunds | Money returned to customers. | Sum of order refund amounts. |
| Discounts | Discounts and coupons applied. | Sum of order discount totals. |
Why Net can look small. In WooCommerce the stored order total already includes tax and shipping. Net Sales strips those back out, so it reflects the value of the products themselves after discounts and refunds. Gross Sales then adds discounts and refunds back to show sales before any deductions.
Counts and rates #
| Metric | Definition |
|---|---|
| #Products Purchased | Count of line items across the orders in the period. |
| #Orders | Number of orders in the period. |
| Avg Net Sales / day | Sales for the period divided by the number of days in it. |
| Sales Every | The average number of days between days that had at least one sale. A value of 2 means, on average, a sale happened every other day. |
Month and year reports #
The Orders by Month and Orders by Year tabs use the same Net, Gross and Total sales definitions, one row per period, plus two extra figures:
- Average Sales: the mean sales value across the completed periods shown (the current, incomplete period is excluded).
- Forecast: a growth-based projection for the next period. The plugin measures the average growth ratio between consecutive periods and applies it to the average. When growth is not flat, the report also prints the growth rate it used.
Because the forecast needs at least two completed periods to measure growth, it falls back to the plain average when there is only one period of data.
Note on order status #
Every figure above is limited to the order statuses included in the report. If you do not choose a status, the report uses your Selected default status (Completed, Processing, On hold and Refunded by default). Changing the included statuses changes all of these numbers.
Get the full picture #
WooCommerce Advanced Reporting and Statistics turns your store data into clear, exportable reports, sales forecasts and stock alerts. See everything it can do.