Revenue (Gross Revenue)
All the money that came in from sales. This is the big number Shopify puts at the top of your dashboard — and it's misleading. Revenue is NOT profit. It's just the top line before anything gets subtracted.
Example
200 orders × $50 each = $10,000 revenue. Sounds great. But after you pay for products ($4K), refunds ($500), payment fees ($320), shipping ($400), and apps ($79) — you're left with $4,701. That's a very different number
Why It Matters
Revenue is the vanity metric that tricks merchants into thinking they're successful. A store doing $100K/month with a 3% net margin keeps $3K. Another doing $30K with 20% keeps $6K. Revenue tells you how much came in, not how much stays.
Pro Tip
Stop celebrating revenue milestones. Start celebrating profit milestones. Track net profit, not top-line sales.
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