South African E-commerce Reporting: What to Track
E-commerce reporting for South African online stores: which metrics to track, how to handle VAT, delivery and payment data, and a simple monthly report layout.
· 4 min read · Summarix team
Good e-commerce reporting for a South African online store tracks revenue, orders, average order value, conversion, returns and delivery costs, in rand and with VAT handled consistently. The goal is one monthly report that tells you what sold, what it cost to get it to the customer and where margin leaked. This guide sets out the metrics, the local quirks and a report layout you can copy.
The core metrics every store should track
| Metric | Formula | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Net revenue | Gross sales − discounts − refunds (state if excl. VAT) | The real top line |
| Orders | Count of completed orders | Volume, independent of price changes |
| Average order value (AOV) | Net revenue ÷ orders | Shows basket size; key for free-delivery thresholds |
| Conversion rate | Orders ÷ sessions | How well the site turns visits into sales |
| Refund/return rate | Refunded orders ÷ orders | Product, sizing or delivery problems |
| Delivery cost per order | Courier costs ÷ orders shipped | Often the biggest hidden margin drain |
| Repeat customer rate | Customers with 2+ orders ÷ customers | Loyalty and lifetime value |
For a longer list with definitions and formulas, see our guide to e-commerce KPIs.
South African specifics to get right
VAT-inclusive prices
Consumer prices in South Africa are normally shown including VAT, and platforms report differently depending on settings. If you are VAT registered, report revenue excluding VAT for margin analysis (inclusive ÷ 1.15 at the 15% rate). Our VAT reporting guide explains the formulas.
Delivery and courier costs
Distances and courier pricing make delivery a large cost for many local stores. Track what you charge customers for delivery separately from what you pay couriers, and report the difference. Break it down by province or delivery zone if costs vary a lot.
Payment methods
Local stores typically accept card, instant EFT and other payment options through a payment gateway, sometimes plus manual EFT. Each has different fees and failure rates. Record the payment method per order so you can compare fees and abandoned payments by method.
Seasonality
Black Friday, festive season, back-to-school and month-end paydays drive strong spikes. Compare against the same period last year, not just last month, or November will look like a miracle and January like a disaster.
Where the data comes from
- Store platform (Shopify, WooCommerce, others): orders, products, discounts, refunds.
- Analytics: sessions and traffic sources, for conversion rate.
- Payment gateway: fees, failed payments, payouts.
- Courier accounts: shipping invoices per waybill.
- Ad platforms: spend per campaign, for return on ad spend.
Joining these is the hard part. At minimum, export orders and courier costs for the same month and match them on order number.
Cleaning store data before you report
Platform exports are rarely report-ready. Before you calculate anything, run through a few quick fixes:
- Exclude test orders, cancelled orders and orders that never got paid (common with manual EFT).
- Treat partial refunds as reductions in revenue, not as extra orders.
- Make sure discounts are recorded once, not both in the line price and a separate discount column.
- Split order lines from order totals, or you will double-count revenue.
- Remove customer names, emails and addresses from the working file if the report doesn’t need them; province and city are usually enough.
A short, repeatable cleaning routine matters more than a clever dashboard: if the underlying orders are wrong, every KPI built on them is wrong too.
A simple monthly report layout
- Summary: three to five sentences on what happened and why.
- Headline KPIs: net revenue, orders, AOV, conversion rate, refund rate, each vs last month and same month last year.
- Products: top 10 by revenue and by units, plus the biggest risers and fallers.
- Channels: revenue and orders by traffic source.
- Fulfilment: delivery cost per order, orders by province, late deliveries if you track them.
- Actions: two or three concrete things to do next month.
Worked example: spotting a margin leak
Say your store did R350,000 net revenue (excl. VAT) from 700 orders in August: an AOV of R500. You charge a flat R80 delivery but your courier invoices average R115 per parcel, so each order loses R35 on delivery, or R24,500 for the month. Raising the free-delivery threshold, adjusting the fee by zone, or nudging AOV upwards with bundles are all options, but you only see the leak if delivery revenue and courier cost sit side by side in your report.
Summarix connects to Shopify, WooCommerce and Stripe, or takes CSV and Excel exports, and produces this kind of report with KPIs and charts computed from your data and a written summary on top. You can schedule it monthly and have the PDF emailed to you and your partners automatically.
Connect your store and get your first monthly e-commerce report.
Free plan: 5 AI reports a month, no card needed.
Conclusion
Keep your store reporting focused: a handful of KPIs, clean VAT treatment, delivery economics in plain view and year-on-year comparisons for seasonal months. Platform-specific tips are in our guides to Shopify sales reports and WooCommerce reports.
Frequently asked questions
What reports should an online store run every month?
At minimum: net revenue, orders, average order value, conversion rate, refunds, top products and delivery cost per order, compared with last month and the same month last year.
Should e-commerce revenue be reported including or excluding VAT?
If you are VAT registered, report excluding VAT for margin and performance analysis, and state clearly which basis you use.
How do I calculate average order value?
Divide net revenue by the number of orders for the same period. For example, R350,000 from 700 orders gives an AOV of R500.