KPI
A KPI is a metric promoted to a job, the chosen few numbers a store steers by instead of merely reporting.
What a KPI is
A KPI, key performance indicator, is a metric promoted to a job: the small set of numbers a store has decided define success and reviews on purpose, chosen from the hundreds the dashboards will happily report.
Why KPIs matter
The word “key” is the whole discipline: a store’s data stack measures everything, and a team that watches everything steers by nothing. KPIs are the selection, the handful tied to the model, revenue in, cost out, customers kept, that meetings actually open with, and the choice of them quietly decides what the team optimizes, for better and worse.
A store’s KPI tree in practice
- The roots: revenue and contribution margin, the numbers the rest must explain
- The drivers: traffic, conversion rate, AOV, and repeat rate, the multiplication that makes revenue
- The guards: CAC against payback, and fulfillment or support health where they threaten the promise
- The cadence: each KPI owned by someone and reviewed on a rhythm, or it’s decoration
Frequently asked questions
How many KPIs should a store track?
Few enough to remember without the dashboard: a north star plus its handful of drivers covers most stores, and everything else demotes to diagnostic metrics consulted when a KPI moves. The tell you have too many is that none of them changes anyone’s week.
KPI vs metric vs north star: what’s the hierarchy?
Metrics are everything measurable; KPIs are the chosen few with owners and targets; the north star is the single KPI the others exist to serve. The hierarchy’s job is argument-settling: when two numbers disagree, the structure says which one wins.