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CM1 per Order is the gross margin, in dollars, that an average order leaves after discounts, refunds, and the cost of the goods in it. It is AOV with product cost taken out.

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Formula

CM1 per Order = CM1 ÷ Orders

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Formula Components

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How It Works

Upstack adds up the CM1 components for every order in the range and divides by the order count once. It does not average per-order margins, so a few large orders pull the result toward their margin. The numerator includes Other COGS: any order fee you put in the COGS category, such as packaging inserts. Product COGS comes from Shopify cost per item, your manual product costs, or the Default COGS % fallback in Cost settings. Because the denominator counts every order, the result is a blend of new and returning customers. Use NC CM1 per Order or RC CM1 per Order to split them.

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Example

A skincare store has 2,150 orders in a month. Net revenue is $141,900, so net AOV is $66.00. About 62% of each order’s net revenue survives product cost, which matches CM1 %.

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How to Interpret It

CM1 per Order is the budget each order brings for everything else: shipping, payment fees, ads, and overhead. If shipping and payment fees run about $11 an order, this store has roughly $29 left per order for marketing before it loses money.
  • Rising usually means a better product mix, larger baskets, or lighter discounting.
  • Falling with flat AOV points at COGS (supplier price increases, missing product costs being filled in) or heavier discounts.
  • Falling with falling AOV often means more single-item orders, which spread nothing across fixed per-order costs.
Compare it with Net AOV. AOV can rise while CM1 per Order falls if the extra revenue comes from low-margin items or bundles priced too close to cost.

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Common Pitfalls

  • Missing product costs inflate it. Products without a cost fall back to Default COGS %. If that’s blank, those items carry no COGS and CM1 per Order looks better than reality.
  • Refund timing. With the dashboard’s Refunds option set to Refund date (matches Shopify), a refund lands in the period it was issued, not when the order was placed. A short range with a big refund can show a low or negative value.

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FAQ

Not quite. Gross Profit, documented as Product Margin, uses gross revenue and product cost only. CM1 also subtracts discounts, refunds, and Other COGS, so it is the more conservative number.
One that covers your per-order shipping, payment fees, and acquisition cost with room left. Work backwards from those costs rather than from a generic target, since they vary widely by product and price point.
See all Contribution Margin metrics →