Five numbers every growing e-commerce business should track.

Most growing e-commerce businesses track dozens of metrics and act on almost none of them, because most dashboards are built to show activity, not decisions. These five numbers are the ones worth actually watching — because each one, moving in the wrong direction, changes what you should do next.

1. Gross margin by category

Total revenue tells you demand. Margin by category tells you which parts of the business are actually worth growing — see why revenue and profit can disagree.

2. Repeat purchase rate

New customers are expensive to acquire and easy to celebrate. Whether they come back is the number that decides if that acquisition spend was worth it.

3. Share of customers at risk of leaving

A shrinking "at risk" segment is a healthier signal than a growing top-line — because a customer base quietly eroding underneath a revenue number is a problem that compounds if it isn't caught early.

4. Profit per product, not just per category

Category-level margin can hide a single underperforming product dragging the average down — see why your best-seller might not be your most valuable product.

5. Average order value by city or channel

Where your orders are highest-value tells you where a small increase in volume returns the most — often a cheaper lever than acquiring entirely new customers elsewhere.