Guide
TikTok Shop analytics, explained
Part 1
Where TikTok Shop keeps each number
Do this first
- Open Data Compass in Seller Center, then Shop Analytics.
- Bookmark Product Analytics for traffic, since Shop Analytics no longer holds it.
- Note which numbers you need from Shop Ads and the Affiliate Center.
| Number | Where it lives |
|---|---|
| GMV, SKU orders, refunds and cancellations | Shop Analytics1 |
| Product traffic | Data Compass, then Product Analytics, then Details or Product Traffic2 |
| LIVE and video traffic | LIVE and Video analytics1 |
| Ad spend and ad results | Shop Ads1 |
| Affiliate GMV for commissions | The Affiliate Center1 |
| Reviews | Product, then Product ratings1 |
Part 2
What the Shop Analytics metrics count
| Metric | TikTok's definition | Tells you about |
|---|---|---|
| GMV | The total paid for orders in the period, including canceled and refunded ones. List price times items sold, plus shipping, minus seller- and platform-funded discounts, minus tax, by time of payment. | Sales, gross |
| AOV | GMV divided by the number of orders. | Order value |
| Items Sold | Individual items. 3 of one SKU and 2 of another is 5. | Volume |
| SKU Orders | Paid orders counted by SKU. One order of 3 of one SKU and 2 of another is 2. | Volume |
| Customers | Customers who paid for orders, including any who later returned or were refunded. | Reach |
| Refunds | Refunded amounts, counted when the refund fully settles. | What comes back out |
| Items canceled and returned | Items canceled or returned, counted when the cancellation or return starts. | What comes back out |
Paraphrased from TikTok Shop's Shop Analytics guide, including the GMV formula in TikTok's own terms.1
- GMV also comes split by content type: LIVE, video and product card.1
- None of these 7 numbers takes out TikTok's fees or affiliate commissions, so none of them is your payout.
Part 3
Why sales moved: the product traffic funnel
Do this first
- Open Product Analytics for your top product and find the traffic source module.
- Read product impressions, product clicks and SKU orders against the period before.
- Find the step that fell: impressions, CTR or CTOR.
- Filter by content type to see whether LIVE, video or affiliate content moved.
- Shop Analytics tells you that sales moved, Product Analytics tells you where. Its traffic source module shows product impressions, product clicks, SKU orders, CTR (click-through) and CTOR (click-to-order) for each product.2
- The same fork on Amazon uses sessions and conversion, as in why are my Amazon sales down.
Part 4
4 traps when you read TikTok Shop numbers
Do this first
- Take refunds, cancellations and shipping fees out of GMV before you call it sales.
- Read a full month, and expect its last days to change.
- Leave Affiliate Center GMV out of your shop total.
- Add up products in Product Analytics for a shop-wide traffic read.
- 1. GMV isn't what you kept. It includes canceled and refunded orders, so a month with a large return wave still shows the full GMV. It also carries the shipping customers paid, which Shop Analytics reports as Shipping fees.1 Take fees and commissions out too before you call it what you kept.
- 2. Refunds and cancellations land on different dates. Refunds count when they fully settle, cancellations and returns when they start, and GMV counts by payment time, so a LIVE that runs past midnight puts its later sales on the next day.1
- 3. Affiliate GMV is a commission number. The Affiliate Center credits a sale to a creator within 14 days of a click on their product link, and that figure differs from your shop's GMV.1 Those sales are already in Shop Analytics GMV.
- 4. Traffic is per product, not per shop. Store-level traffic isn't in Shop Analytics yet, and TikTok says it plans to add it.1
Part 5
Read TikTok Shop beside your other channels
Do this first
- Take refunds and shipping fees out of TikTok's GMV.
- Use net sales on every other channel.
- Put every channel on 1 line in the monthly business review template.
- Each channel counts sales its own way. TikTok's GMV keeps canceled and refunded orders in, Walmart reports a gross GMV, Amazon reports ordered product sales, and Shopify's sales report shows gross, net and total sales, where net is after discounts and returns.
- Unadjusted, a month of heavy TikTok returns still looks like a strong month. GMV less refunds and shipping fees is the TikTok number to set beside the rest.
- The same step for 2 other channels: the Walmart guide and Amazon's Business Reports, explained.
We read TikTok Shop beside everything else
Sentopi's monthly report puts Amazon, Shopify, wholesale, retail, Walmart and TikTok Shop on one line, tests each likely cause against every channel's numbers, and ranks what to do first. Our team processes your TikTok Shop order reports, so you send a file, never a login. The first month is free, and after that it's priced per brand and quoted on the call, with no contract.