B2B ecommerce has many benefits, and the ability to capture bulk orders consistently while minimizing costs and overhead has made it highly profitable. But it’s an industry that also requires careful planning. As companies lean into the model’s broader advantages, success in B2B ecommerce often looks different from other business channels—and key performance indicators (KPIs) are your guide to getting that approach right.
A key performance indicator is a measure of how effectively you achieve your business objectives. We’ve compiled an inventory of the most indispensable KPIs for B2B ecommerce, covering financial performance, website performance, customer relations, and beyond.
All sorts of companies—from coffee shops to fashion marketplaces to IT providers—have achieved success in B2B ecommerce in recent months. Use this guide as a roadmap for accelerating yours.
What are key performance indicators (KPIs) in B2B ecommerce?
When you start a new exercise regimen, you likely have long-term goals in mind and a plan that includes training techniques and benchmarks to hit. For business growth, KPIs function as those benchmarks.
- KPIs are trackable metrics used to measure business performance.
- KPIs measure business performance over time, helping organizations assess progress toward specific goals and targets.
- KPIs vary by department, business, and industry.
How to choose KPIs for your model
Map KPIs to goals and motions
Buyers use an average of 10 channels along their path to purchase, 2024 data found. It’s clear that the buying journey is more complex and omnichannel than a simple funnel.
In fact it’s split into thirds, with one-third of interactions happening in person, one-third in remote assisted sales, and the last third via digital self-serve. The variation in channels means there is no one set of KPIs to track.
Ideally, you’re tracking performance by motion, especially as ecommerce becomes a dominant channel for buyers. More buyers are comfortable spending up to $500,000 or more through self-serve. Additionally, enterprise marketplaces are gaining momentum, with one report showing a 6x increase in GMV growth compared to traditional ecommerce over the 2022–2023 period.
That said, map your indicators to the goals of each motion. For example:
Self-serve
- Goal: Drive online adoption and frictionless, low-touch transactions.
- KPIs: Webstore adoption rate (%), digital revenue mix (%), cart-to-checkout rate, checkout-to-paid rate, and repeat purchase rate
Sales-assist
- Goal: Empower reps to close high-value, complex deals efficiently.
- KPIs: Speed-to-first-response, quote-to-order cycle time, win rate by stage, average selling price by channel, and opportunity age
Marketplace/hybrid
- Goal: Scale assortment and revenue by successfully managing a two-sided ecosystem of buyers and sellers.
- KPIs: Gross merchandise value (GMV), take rate (%), average time to first sale (for sellers), seller retention rate, and buyer-to-seller ratio
Difference between KPIs and other metrics
To track each motion, you want to distinguish between high-level KPIs and the metrics that inform them. KPIs are the indicators tied to a goal. Other metrics serve as the inputs that show you why a KPI is changing.
Here’s a simple breakdown:
| Item | Definition | B2B Example |
|---|---|---|
| KPI | Describes performance against objectives. It has a formula, unit, and time behavior. | Webstore Adoption Rate = (Active Online Accounts ÷ Total Active Accounts) Target: 60%+ reviewed monthly |
| Metric | A quantitative value that supports broader programs. | Product page CTR, cart adds, seller listing count |
| Measure | A concrete, objective value captured by instrumentation that informs metrics. | Clicks, page load time (ms), units shipped |
Website and conversion performance KPIs
There are numerous mobile site speed optimization tactics ecommerce leaders can employ, as well as best-in-class mobile checkout options like Shop Pay. As you fine-tune your ecommerce site, keep the following KPIs in mind:
Website traffic and engagement
Search engines like Google prioritize fast-moving sites. You can also draw traffic to your online store with knowledge base content that’s relevant to your prospects.
So you’ve gotten prospects to your site—where do you go from there?
- Website traffic data provides insights into how customers and prospective buyers engage with your company.
- Click-through rate shows the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and the strength of your brand.
- Bounce rate shows how well your product presentation holds interest, and return visitors reflect enduring interest in what you’re selling.
- Website traffic data can be used to optimize and enhance functionality.
Conversion rate
Conversion rate measures how frequently your site converts visitors into customers. Choosing a B2B ecommerce platform like Shopify is a great first step, as Shopify provides store owners the best-converting checkout on the market.
So how else can you increase conversion rate and use it as a metric to improve your site?
- Conversion rate is the primary KPI for determining the effectiveness of a marketing strategy.
- It measures how many impressions, social media engagements, views, and site visits turn into sales.
- Since ecommerce companies that rely on digital campaigns have a high volume of impressions, a 2% conversion rate is considered successful.
- B2B businesses can improve their conversion rates by optimizing their websites and using persuasive calls to action (CTAs).
Shopping cart abandonment rate
An easy, frictionless checkout is one of the most reliable ways of increasing B2B sales. Evaluate your checkout experience by analyzing how potential customers behave once they’ve placed items in their cart.
- Shopping cart abandonment rate measures how many website visitors put a product in the virtual shopping cart but fail to make the purchase.
- For ecommerce companies, this rate can reveal friction in the checkout process.
- Creating a simple, user-friendly checkout can improve this metric and increase online sales.
Ecommerce store adoption rate
Are your customers using the online store you built for them? Your webstore adoption rate shows the difference between customers placing orders and checking invoices online, rather than calling or emailing your team like they always have.
You can look at this in two ways:
- What percentage of your total orders come through the webstore?
- What percentage of your active accounts are logging in and using it?
When customers self-serve, businesses often see higher margins because it frees up their sales and support staff to focus on other tasks. They can spend more time on high-value work and less on order entry and admin tasks.
If these numbers are low, you're probably not seeing the full return on your investment (ROI) for your ecommerce platform.
Punchout/EDI order share
Electronic data interchange (EDI) order share measures how many orders flow through procurement integrations, whether that’s a modern punchout catalog or traditional EDI.
When you connect your store to a buyer’s system such as SAP Ariba, Coupa, or Jaggaer, you're making it incredibly easy for them to purchase from you. They shop on your site from their system, and the order is sent back for approval.
To track it, just look at the percentage of total orders that come through these integrated channels.
Customer acquisition and retention KPIs
B2B sales cycles are often long and complex, and tend to involve input from multiple stakeholders.
But because B2B ecommerce involves so many interactions and customer touchpoints, it offers significant intel about your customer base, which you can analyze with three primary KPIs:
Customer acquisition cost (CAC)
A marketing campaign that brings in new customers can look like a big win at first glance—but how does the value of those customers compare to the resources spent attracting them?
- Customer acquisition cost (CAC) measures the price of acquiring new customers.
- CAC evaluates the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and budget allocation.
- Implementing targeted content-marketing strategies can help reduce CAC.
- CAC shows how effective and efficient your marketing efforts are.
Customer retention rate (CRR)
One of the core benefits of B2B is attracting wholesale buyers who purchase in bulk frequently. Loyal customers who buy on a monthly, weekly, or even daily basis can pay tremendous dividends over time.
- Customer retention rate (CRR) measures how many customers continue to make purchases from your online store.
- A low CRR may indicate issues with customer service.
- Retaining existing customers is often more cost-effective than acquiring new ones.
- Average CRR varies by industry—consider rates in your space to shape your CRR goals.
DSO and invoice accuracy
These KPIs track your cash conversion health, or how fast you can turn a sale into cash in the bank. Two numbers tell this story:
- Days sales outstanding (DSO) tracks how long it takes to get paid after you make a sale.
- Invoice accuracy tracks how many of your invoices get paid without a problem, versus being disputed or rejected.
When your DSO starts to climb, it means your working cash is trapped in your customers' bank accounts. It’s a problem many organizations are focusing on in 2026—and most of it chalks up to a messy invoicing system.
For example, 2024 data shows best-in-class teams have a 9% invoice exception rate, while others average 22%. Those same top performers process an invoice in three days, compared to all others who take around 17. Aim for an exception rate under 10% and get at least 50% of your invoices to process with zero human touch.
Order, revenue, and account health
Let’s take a closer look at customer behavior. Analysis of order value and frequency can help you understand predictable revenue streams—a foundation of business stability and growth.
Average order value (AOV)
Average order value (AOV) is calculated by dividing total revenue by the number of orders. It’s a useful method for identifying buyers who are already enthusiastic about your products.
- AOV determines the average amount spent per order.
- A rising AOV indicates a strong remarketing strategy and a wide range of products.
- Factors that influence return visits include navigation, security, and the ordering process.
- AOV measures the “quality” of a customer by determining how much the customer spends on a typical order.
Order frequency
It’s more cost-effective to convince existing customers to buy more frequently than to try to attract new buyers in the marketplace. Strive to optimize order frequency.
- Order frequency measures how frequently a customer makes purchases within a year.
- Increasing order frequency enhances customer loyalty and lifetime value.
- By prioritizing order frequency, you can tailor marketing strategies to your high-value customers.
Monthly recurring revenue (MRR)
Monthly recurring revenue (MRR) is the amount of money a business reliably receives each month based on customer payment agreements such as subscriptions and contracts. It does not include one-time purchases.
- MRR is a predictable revenue stream.
- MRR offers a clear view of recurring business performance.
- MRR by campaign quantifies marketing effectiveness and helps you justify budget.
- The best way to increase MRR is to sell more to existing customers.
Quote-to-order cycle time
How many of your deals are dying a slow death in someone's approval inbox? Quote-to-order cycle time monitors the total elapsed time from when a sales rep first creates a quote to when it finally becomes a booked order.
- Track this in your customer relationship management platform (CRM). Start the clock when a rep submits for approval and stop it when the order is officially booked.
- Be ruthless. A standard quote with no special terms? That should be done in under 48 hours.
- For complex deals, set clear service level agreements (SLAs) for each approval tier, like manager approval in less than 24 hours, legal in less than three days. Automatically flag breaches.
- Use your CPQ or commerce platform to automate the routing and let teams approve in parallel.
Customer lifetime value and ROI
Customer behavior insights can be synthesized into long-term, holistic figures to guide your business.
Customer lifetime value (CLV)
Savvy ecommerce leaders who understand customer lifetime value (CLV) focus not just on acquiring customers, but on acquiring the right customers.
- CLV estimates the total revenue you might expect from a given customer throughout the entire relationship.
- CLV helps identify high-value customers and segment your customer base for targeted marketing and sales efforts.
- CLV measures the total amount of money a single customer is forecast to spend with a company over the duration of the business relationship.
Return on investment (ROI)
Return on investment (ROI) is the money you earn in return for the financial capital you put into a business. It’s best expressed as a percentage gain (or loss) of the original sum.
- ROI can be applied at the macro and micro levels.
- Successful companies look at the ROI of key decisions to determine their impact.
- Companies tracking ROI can improve value for resources spent to increase profitability.
- ROI measures the return on investment for marketing campaigns and business decisions.
Lead generation and conversion
How effectively you generate interest around your product—then turn interested shoppers into new customers—is another KPI of B2B ecommerce. Potential customers, or leads, are sorted into two main categories.
Marketing-qualified leads (MQLs)
Not all leads are created equal. What can high-quality leads, who have often already engaged with your product, tell you about your marketing efforts and the conversion rates you can expect?
- MQLs are sales leads who are more likely to become customers.
- Marketing efforts have created interest in your products among potential buyers, and they are now a part of the sales funnel.
- The number and quality of MQLs—and where they are in the funnel—is valuable data for determining the effectiveness of marketing efforts.
Sales-qualified leads (SQLs)
Sales-qualified leads (SQLs) are the MQLs who are especially ready to buy your product and should be targeted for a sales push. SQLs represent the final stage of conversion, and they’re a crucial KPI of your company’s outreach.
- SQLs are potential new customers who have been vetted by marketing and sales teams and determined to be probable buyers.
- An SQL has shown intent to buy and met your organization’s lead qualification criteria.
- They’re further down the sales funnel and are a sign of an effective sales strategy.
Lead-to-customer conversion rate
Successful lead-generation tactics include SEO, offering knowledge base content to potential customers on topics that matter to them, and seeking out the best B2B marketplaces to sell your products. The next step is analyzing how well those tactics convert new customers.
- Lead-to-customer conversion rate measures the effectiveness of your lead generation and sales strategies.
- Measure the change in lead-to-conversion rate after every new conversion strategy to assess what you’re doing well and how you can improve.
- Lead-to-conversion ratio measures the share of qualified B2B leads who eventually become customers.
Marketplace and wholesale
Gross merchandise volume (GMV)
Gross merchandise volume (GMV), also known as gross merchandise value, is a fundamental ecommerce KPI that can help inform your pricing structure and shape the month-to-month strategy of your business.
- GMV is the total sales value of products sold through your marketplace, before subtracting expenses such as shipping.
- GMV is an important indicator of marketplace health.
- GMV can help identify and leverage customer trends. For instance, if your GMV spikes during the holiday season, you may want to increase inventory and consider special promotions for that period.
Time to first sale
When you bring a new seller onto your marketplace, how long does it take them to actually sell something? This is their time to value, and it's one of the clearest signals of a healthy onboarding process.
The faster a new seller gets that first cha-ching, the more engaged they'll be, the faster they'll add more products, and the quicker your marketplace grows.
- This measurement counts the number of days between a seller’s go-life date and the date of their first transaction..
- For sellers you actively help onboard, aim to get them their first sale within 30 days.
- Give them a clear path to success. This means prebuilt catalog templates, bulk-upload tools, and a simple checklist to get their content, pricing, and fulfillment ready to go.
Seller retention rate and buyer-seller ratio
These two metrics keep your marketplace's entire ecosystem in check.
- Seller retention: Are your active sellers sticking around, or are you constantly trying to replace them? High retention is important for providing stable and high-quality assortments.
- Buyer-seller ratio: Do you have the right balance of supply and demand? If there are too many sellers for your buyers, your sellers may become frustrated. If there are too many buyers for your products, your customers may see them as sold out.
For retention, aim for 80%–90% in your key categories. For the ratio, find the right balance for each category. If you have too many sellers, consider launching a marketing campaign to attract more buyers. Too many buyers? It's time to recruit new sellers in that specific category.
Inventory and fulfillment
Monitoring inventory and fulfillment can help you avoid running out of product during crucial sales periods—and avoid overstocking, which can also be extremely costly, particularly in industries with perishable or time-sensitive products.
Inventory turnover
Inventory turnover is calculated by dividing the cost of goods sold by average inventory figures. It’s a KPI that can help you fine-tune pricing, purchase schedules, and manufacturing volume.
- Inventory turnover measures how efficiently a business sells its inventory within a specified time frame.
- A high turnover rate indicates effective inventory management; a low rate suggests potential issues with inventory strategy.
- Inventory turnover is an important metric for understanding the efficiency of your business.
On-time, in-full (OTIF) and fill rate
OTIF tells you if orders are arriving when you promised, and if they arrive complete. Fill rate is its sidekick, measuring the percentage of orders that you could ship immediately from your available stock.
When OTIF and fill rates are high, you spend less on expediting shipments, get hit with fewer chargebacks, and see customers stick around.
- Calculate OTIF as (On-time and complete orders ÷ total orders) × 100. For fill rate, use (Orders filled completely ÷ total orders) × 100.
- Set your own baseline, but know that mature companies aim for 95%–98% OTIF and at least a 95% fill rate on their core stocked items.
- Improve your forecasts for your most valuable, bestselling items, tighten up supplier lead times, and hold inventory for your key contract accounts.
Back-order rate and return merchandise authorization (RMA) rate
These two KPIs measure friction in your inventory system. Your back-order rate tracks how often a customer tries to buy something but can't because you're out of stock. The return merchandise authorization (RMA) rate monitors how many of your shipments end up coming back.
- Track back-order rate by line item: (Back-ordered items ÷ total items ordered) × 100.
- You can track returns by order or by unit: (Orders with RMAs ÷ total orders) or (Units returned ÷ units shipped).
- Strive for a back-order rate of less than 2%–3% for your key products.
Customer engagement and satisfaction
Happy customers are a KPI of any business—and in B2B ecommerce, their importance multiplies. If you’ve been investing significant resources in attracting high-volume customers, maintaining those relationships is crucial.
Use these metrics for evaluation:
Net promoter score (NPS)
Net promoter surveys ask customers a standardized question: “On a scale of 0 to 10, how likely are you to recommend us to a friend?” The resulting net promoter score (NPS) represents a simple, cost-effective KPI for businesses.
- NPS measures user satisfaction.
- NPS is an important metric for measuring customer loyalty.
- Because NPS is so commonly used, you can learn a lot by comparing your score to your industry average.
- NPS carries predictive value: Improvements in NPS indicate happier customers, which can lead to increased sales. A declining NPS suggests an unhealthy company, which tends to lead to decreased sales until problems are addressed.
Repeat purchase rate
Your customers come back to restock because they’re happy with their purchases (evidently, their customers are happy too). Repeat purchases keep B2B ecommerce humming along.
Consider the following:
- Is your customer base satisfied with your products?
- How often do they return for additional purchases?
- What is your churn rate?
- Returning customers have an increased CLV and indicate customer satisfaction with your products and services.
Account penetration
Knowing if customers are sticky, or buy many different products or categories from you, is another important measure. Customers who buy multiple categories are less likely to churn and set your team up for better cross-selling opportunities.
- Measure this by counting the number of distinct SKUs a customer bought or, more strategically, the number of distinct categories they bought from.
- Set simple targets like, "Get every core account buying from at least three categories".
- Create smart bundles, send automated replenishment recommendations, or even unlock better contract pricing when an account buys from more categories.
Financial performance
As you monitor the financial performance of your business, keep the following metrics in mind:
Revenue growth rate
Whether it’s on the macro or micro level, monitor how much money your company is bringing in.
- Revenue growth rate measures how your revenue shifts from one period to the next.
- Revenue growth rate helps you understand whether your revenue is accelerating, holding steady, or slowing down.
- Revenue growth rate serves as an important metric for understanding business performance.
Profit margin
What constitutes a “good” profit margin varies by industry (accounting for factors like overhead, competition, etc.), but ultimately, it is a defining KPI of your company’s standing. Calculate profit margin with the following formula:
Profit margin = (gross profit / net revenue) x 100.
- Profit margin shows how efficiently your business turns revenue into profit.
- Profit margin indicates the overall financial health of your company.
- Profit margin reveals how much you keep after covering costs.
Tracking and reporting
KPIs should be front of mind as you manage your business. Take what you learn from them and apply that knowledge to your goals.
How to regularly track your ecommerce metrics
Monitor the ecommerce metrics we’ve discussed—such as CAC, AOV, conversion rate, and profit margin—to ensure your business makes smart, impactful decisions.
- Metrics should be tracked regularly to understand business performance.
- The frequency of tracking depends on the nature of your business and goals.
- Regularly tracking your ecommerce metrics helps you make data-driven decisions.
Best practices for KPI reporting
A business can put a lot of effort into analyzing KPIs without turning the intel into meaningful action. Your analytics are a living indicator of your company’s health—applying them is an ongoing, ever-changing process.
- Report KPIs in a visual format that tracks predetermined metrics.
- KPI reporting is beneficial for understanding business performance and making data-driven decisions.
- Best practices for KPI reporting include setting clear goals, using relevant metrics, and regularly reviewing and improving your reporting strategy.
Make the B2B revolution a difference-maker for your business
B2B ecommerce is an industry of rapid growth, as brands across countless industries jockey for a piece of the action. KPIs provide trusty guidelines for nurturing what you’ve built and bringing it to scale.
Choosing the right ecommerce platform also primes you for success. Shopify can help you accelerate site speed, personalize inventory management, convert at rates you dreamed of—and even apply the personality of DTC to the B2B experience. Your company can be the standard-setter.
Read more
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- Should Off-Price Retailers Be in Your Wholesale Plan?
- Wholesale Ecommerce: How It Works, Types, and Benefits to Wholesalers (2024)
- What Is B2B Ecommerce? Types + Examples
- Top 11 B2B Ecommerce Trends to Grow Your Business
FAQ on B2B ecommerce KPIs
What are B2B KPIs?
B2B KPIs are measures of how effectively a business achieves objectives in B2B commerce.
What are the main KPIs for ecommerce?
The main KPIs for B2B ecommerce include website performance KPIs like conversion rate, customer acquisition and retention KPIs like CRR, and customer behavior insights like CLV.
What is customer retention rate for B2B ecommerce?
Customer retention rate (CRR) measures how many customers continue to make purchases from your online store. A low CRR may indicate problems with customer service. Remember that CRR varies by industry—consider rates in your sector to accurately shape your CRR goals.
What is average order value in B2B ecommerce?
Average order value (AOV) measures the “quality” of a B2B customer by determining how much a customer spends on a typical order. A rising AOV often indicates a strong remarketing strategy and a wide range of products. AOV is calculated by dividing total revenue by the number of orders for a customer.
