GMV
GMV is the total value of goods transacted through a platform, the flow before fees and returns touch it.
What GMV is
GMV, gross merchandise value, is the total value of goods transacted through a platform or store in a period: everything sold at sticker, before fees, discounts fine print, returns, and costs touch it.
Why GMV matters
It sizes the flow: marketplaces report it because the goods crossing the platform dwarf the platform’s own revenue, and sellers use it to talk scale. It’s also the most flatterable number in commerce, which is exactly why readers ask what’s underneath.
Reading GMV honestly
- Definition first: with or without returns, cancellations, taxes, shipping
- Revenue is the platform’s cut of it, not GMV itself
- Growth quality: GMV bought with subsidies isn’t the same as earned
- Per-cohort and per-category GMV tells more than the headline
Frequently asked questions
GMV vs revenue: what’s the difference?
GMV is what buyers paid for goods; revenue is what the business keeps as its own: commissions and fees for a marketplace, the sale itself minus returns for a direct seller. Conflating them is the oldest trick in the pitch deck.
Is GMV a vanity metric?
Unqualified, often; qualified, useful: GMV with its definition stated, returns netted, and take rate alongside describes a real economy. The vanity is in the omissions, not the metric.