Average Order Value: How to Increase AOV in 3 Steps Without Discounting Everything
Average order value (AOV) is your revenue divided by the number of orders, and it is the growth lever most small stores ignore. Getting each buyer to spend a little more costs nothing in extra ads. Three changes do most of the work: a smart free shipping threshold, bundles that make sense and one well-placed add-on.
What is average order value, and what is a good AOV?
The formula is simple: AOV = revenue ÷ number of orders for the same period. If you made $24,000 from 400 orders last month, your AOV is $60. Decide once whether you include shipping and taxes, then keep that rule so months stay comparable.
The average online order is worth about $192 worldwide. Desktop orders average about $265, mobile orders about $169, so your device mix alone moves the number.
Source: Dynamic Yield (Mastercard) ecommerce benchmarks, rolling 12-month averages, retrieved September 2026
70.5% of shoppers say they are likely to add extra items to reach a free delivery threshold. A minimum order for free shipping is one of the few nudges shoppers openly welcome.
Source: Sendcloud, E-commerce Delivery Compass 2025, survey of 8,000 consumers in 8 European markets including the UK, Germany and France
40% of US shoppers who abandon checkout leave because extra costs such as shipping, taxes and fees are too high. Shipping is both your biggest AOV lever and your biggest exit risk.
Source: Baymard Institute, checkout abandonment reasons, US, 2025
Why AOV matters more than it looks
Store revenue is visitors × conversion rate × average order value. Raise AOV by 10% and revenue grows 10% from the same traffic, while your ad cost per order stays flat. Shoppers usually buy exactly what solves today’s task. They rarely think about what else they need, so the second item has to be obvious, relevant and offered before checkout, not pushed at the payment step. Big sitewide discounts are the wrong tool: they lower the price of every order instead of growing it.
How to increase average order value in 3 steps
Set your free shipping threshold about 15% to 30% above your current AOV. With a $60 average order, start testing around $70 to $75. Show progress in the cart, such as You’re $12 away from free shipping, and check that your margin still covers shipping with a free shipping threshold calculator.
Build two or three bundles from what people already buy together. Export last year’s orders and look for products that often appear in the same basket. Price the bundle 5% to 10% below the separate items. On Shopify, the free Shopify Bundles app handles this. On WooCommerce, a bundle plugin does the same job.
Offer one relevant add-on next to the add to cart button or in the cart. Pick an item that makes the main purchase work better, such as a case for a phone or a care kit for leather shoes, and keep it well below the main price. One clear offer beats a carousel of twelve.
Most stores try to raise average order value with bigger discounts. The better move is to make the second item obvious. When the add-on genuinely helps with the first purchase, shoppers are glad you mentioned it instead of feeling sold to.
About Patrik Vavrovič
Track AOV next to conversion rate
Check AOV every month in Shopify Analytics or in the GA4 Monetization overview, where it appears as average purchase revenue. Always read it next to conversion rate. If AOV rises but fewer people buy, your threshold or bundle prices are too high. Split the number by device too, since mobile orders run smaller. AOV also feeds two numbers that decide whether your ads pay off: customer lifetime value and customer acquisition cost. Our ecommerce analytics guide shows how they fit together.
Key takeaways
Average order value is revenue divided by orders, and a higher AOV grows revenue without buying more traffic.
Dynamic Yield puts the global average order at about $192, but your own 12-month trend is the benchmark that counts.
70.5% of shoppers say they would add items to reach free delivery, so set the threshold 15% to 30% above your AOV.
Bundles built from products people already buy together, and one relevant add-on, raise AOV without sitewide discounts.
Track AOV next to conversion rate: if orders grow but fewer people buy, the threshold or bundle price is too high.
FAQ
What is the average order value formula?
What is a good average order value?
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