How to Increase Online Store Sales: Accounting, Checks, and an Action Plan

To increase sales for a small online store, first find out where customers stop buying and how much money remains after orders are fulfilled. Compare website visits, product views, carts, and checkout starts with actual payments, parcels received, and returns. This will help you choose a specific action: replenish stock, clarify product details, show the full purchase cost, or fix the checkout process.

Start with one category, assign an owner, and test one change within an agreed timeframe and budget. Evaluate the result by paid and fulfilled orders, sales after returns, and the amount left after variable costs. The working methods below are practical recommendations for a store; the legal requirements concerning personal data apply to the Ukrainian jurisdiction.

How to measure results at every stage of a purchase

A store owner needs three consistent data sources. Website analytics show recorded visitor actions. The accounting system contains products, orders, sales, and returns entered by staff or a supported connection. The payment service and bank statement confirm the movement of funds. To check order fulfilment, add data about dispatch and receipt of goods.

Assign each order a permanent number and keep it linked to its payment and shipment. The manager should be able to see customer confirmation, payment status, picking and packing, dispatch, receipt, and return separately. Prepayment may arrive before a manager confirms the order, while cash on delivery may arrive after the parcel is received, so one general status can hide the reasons for delays.

Set the denominator and observation period

Conversion is the share of defined successful actions within a defined base. Write down the formula before comparing results. For example, to calculate overall conversion to payment, divide the number of unique, fully paid orders created during the selected period by the number of counted sessions in that period, then multiply by 100%. Use the same rules for excluding test and internal visits.

Illustrative example: out of 5,000 sessions, the store received 100 orders, 80 of which were fully paid. Conversion to an order created is 2%, while conversion to a fully paid order is 1.6%. If 10 payments arrive later, update the result for the original order group. Adding those payments to orders from a different week will distort the comparison.

For every report, specify the order creation period and when order status was checked. Compare groups that had the same amount of time to pay, receive delivery, and make a return. Show incomplete orders separately. If sales volume is low, collect data for longer: a single purchase can significantly change the percentage.

Reconcile advertising with your records

An advertising account attributes purchases to ads according to its own rules and interaction window. One customer may have seen several ads, visited from search, and returned on their own. So do not add up purchases from different ad accounts without checking order numbers. A purchase attributed to advertising does not by itself prove that the ad caused it.

Ask a developer to check whether the purchase event is sent again after a page refresh, and to verify the order contents and unique number. The manager should match those numbers to payments and returns. Fix discrepancies before deciding to increase the advertising budget; otherwise, the store may spend more because of a measurement error.

What to change depending on why customers leave

If customers cannot find the product they need

Choose products that visitors view or ask about, and check stock for every size, colour, or configuration. Compare the website with actual stock and reservations. If popular options are unavailable, determine the restocking date, remove inaccurate availability information, and offer an available alternative with an explanation of the differences.

Also review in-store search queries and messages to the manager. Add clear category names and the product details customers use to choose. For search engine optimisation, update pages with answers about purpose, size, materials, and compatibility. Before bringing in more visitors, check that the store can fulfil the orders they are likely to place.

If customers view a product but do not add it to the cart

Work on product pages with visits and available stock. Show your own accurate photos of the product, its details, and what is included. For clothing, provide measurements and explain how to take them; for an accessory, list compatible models; for a set, specify its exact contents. If customers regularly ask the manager the same question, add the answer to the product page beside the selection options.

Before checkout, explain what makes up the full purchase total: the product price, delivery, packaging, or any other applicable charges. If delivery costs depend on the address or parcel size, show how they are calculated and when the customer will see the exact amount. Check that the price and availability of the selected option match on the product page and in the cart.

If customers abandon the purchase during checkout

Go through the whole process on a phone: choose an option, change the quantity, enter an address, and check the available payment methods. Make only the fields required for that order mandatory. Explain an error beside the relevant field and retain information already entered if the website allows it.

Offer payment and delivery methods that the store actually supports and can fulfil. Check successful and failed payments, returns from the payment page, and retry attempts. Show the seller’s available contact details and the terms for receipt, exchange, and return. Display genuine reviews and actual dispatch times. Report limited stock or an offer ending only when that information is accurate.

If orders are created but customers do not receive them

Ask the manager to record the specific reason for each cancellation: the product was unavailable, the customer did not agree to delivery, payment failed, the store responded late, or the order was a duplicate. For shipped parcels, record non-delivery, refusal, and returns after receipt separately. Calculate the frequency of each reason against the relevant order group.

Check who monitors unconfirmed purchases and parcels that have stopped moving each day. Agree on a realistic dispatch time with the customer, check the order before packing, and notify them of delays. If enquiries exceed staff capacity, first organise order processing, then assess whether to expand advertising.

How to test one change without unnecessary expense

State your assumption in terms of specific behaviour: “Customers lack measurements, so adding a measurement chart may increase the share of sessions with a cart.” Choose one metric to evaluate the change, along with additional limits: return count, processing time, costs, and the amount left after variable costs.

1. Choose a category or product group with stable availability. Save the baseline data and record exactly what you are changing.
2. Compare periods of the same length with the same weekdays. Note outages, price changes, advertising budget changes, traffic source changes, and stock changes.
3. Assign an owner, completion date, and spending limit. If the owner runs the store alone, schedule time for the check separately.
4. Set a stopping rule in advance: a technical error, inaccurate price, exhausted stock, or exceeded budget. If one occurs, pause the test and investigate.
5. After it ends, wait for the agreed period for payments and returns. Keep the change, test it again, or roll it back and record the reason.

Illustrative plan for a small store: the owner sets aside UAH 1,200 for photos of one product group and compares two 14-day periods. During the test, they do not change prices or advertising settings and mark unavailable items each day. If the visitor mix changes or a product runs out, the owner takes that into account when evaluating the result. This comparison helps inform a practical decision, but it cannot by itself establish the cause of every change in sales.

How to calculate sales after returns and variable costs

Calculate the result for the same group of orders. First, determine the value of products actually paid for, then subtract refunds to customers. Next, account for the cost of goods customers kept, payment fees, the store’s delivery costs, advertising, and return processing costs. Discounts should already be reflected in the actual selling price.

Illustrative numerical example. A store that is not a value-added tax (VAT) payer received 120 orders. Of these, 100 were fully paid and received, while 20 were cancelled before payment and dispatch. Each paid purchase cost UAH 1,000 after discounts. Customers later returned 10 purchases in full, and the store refunded UAH 10,000. For simplicity, the example does not include partial returns.

• Paid and received orders: 100, totalling UAH 100,000.
• Sales after refunds: 100,000 − 10,000 = UAH 90,000; customers kept goods from 90 orders.
• Cost of goods customers kept: 90 × 600 = UAH 54,000. All returned goods are fit for resale and have been restored to stock.
• Payment processing fees: UAH 2,000; under the example’s assumptions, these were not refunded after customer refunds.
• Store’s initial delivery costs: 100 × 50 = UAH 5,000. Customers did not reimburse the store for delivery separately.
• Advertising for this order group cost UAH 12,000.
• Return delivery and processing cost the store 10 × 100 = UAH 1,000.

The amount left after the variable costs listed is: 90,000 − 54,000 − 2,000 − 5,000 − 12,000 − 1,000 = UAH 16,000. This contributes to covering fixed costs and generating profit. Rent, fixed salaries, subscriptions, other overhead, and the entrepreneur’s taxes have not been deducted, so UAH 16,000 cannot be called net profit.

The example uses amounts on a non-VAT payer basis: any VAT that suppliers may have charged on purchases and services has not been excluded. If the store is a VAT payer, agree with an accountant on a consistent basis for management calculations, and account separately for tax liabilities and input tax credit where applicable. Amounts including VAT and excluding VAT cannot be combined arbitrarily in one comparison.

For your own calculation, add packaging, marketplace fees, and other costs that depend on orders. Account for damaged returns through their actual loss in value. If a cost is already included in cost of goods, do not deduct it twice. Divide advertising costs by confirmed orders according to your chosen rule, and label the resulting metric to match that rule.

How to increase average order value and repeat sales

Offer one relevant companion product alongside the main product, explaining its compatibility and benefit. For example, you could show a care product suitable for the material of a pair of shoes. For a more expensive model, explain the specific differences that matter to the customer. Customers should choose add-ons knowingly, with their price and the total clearly visible.

Before offering free delivery above a certain order value or a bonus, recalculate the amount left after variable costs. A higher order value may also mean more expensive delivery, a discount, and more returns. Check these effects for the category where you plan to make the offer.

For repeat sales, choose a group of customers who may benefit from replenishment of consumables or a compatible accessory. Set the observation period starting from the first fulfilled purchase. Calculate the share of repeat customers among the people in this group who had the full agreed period to place another order. Account for returns and the cost of messages and incentives.

How to organise messages and protect customer contact details

In Ukraine, the grounds for processing personal data are set out in Article 11 of the Law “On Personal Data Protection”. They include a person’s consent, entering into and performing a transaction, and fulfilling an obligation provided by law. A legitimate interest may also be a ground, unless the person’s rights and freedoms outweigh that interest. Obtaining a phone number for delivery does not by itself establish consent to advertising.

As a practical procedure for advertising messages, set up a separate, voluntary subscription that identifies the sender, purpose, and communication channel. Keep the consent text, the time and method by which it was obtained, provide a simple unsubscribe option, and check subscription status before every send. Do not add unsubscribed people again through a re-import. Send messages about a specific order as part of servicing it; do not make an advertising subscription a condition of purchase.

Article 6 of this Law requires a defined lawful purpose, a proportionate set of data, and a retention period needed for lawful purposes. Consent is required for a new purpose incompatible with the previous one unless otherwise provided by law. So do not collect unnecessary information for an ordinary order, and set contact retention periods in light of the grounds for processing and mandatory requirements.

Before transferring contacts to a messaging service, determine the required fields, legal basis, and terms of transfer under Article 14 of the Law. Give employees access according to their duties. Article 24 places a personal obligation on a natural person entrepreneur to ensure data protection, while Article 8 provides for individual rights, including withdrawing consent and requesting changes to or deletion of data that is processed unlawfully or is inaccurate. Assign a channel for such requests and a procedure for handling them.

Torgsoft for stock tracking and online store synchronisation

To check availability in Torgsoft, you can use «Стан складу» (“Stock Status”): this mode displays quantities, sizes, prices, and cost, and lets you set a minimum stock level. «Порівняльний аналіз виторгу» (“Revenue Comparison”) helps compare periods, while «Аналіз активності покупців» (“Customer Activity Analysis”) shows the number of purchases and the dates of customers’ latest purchases. This analysis includes revenue figures that do not account for returns, so a separate reconciliation is needed to assess sales after returns.

Exchanging data with a website requires the paid add-on «Синхронізація з інтернет-магазином» (“Online Store Synchronisation”) and the corresponding program configuration. According to the licence description, «Торгсофт-Старт» (“Torgsoft Start”) is not suitable for an online store. The owner and integrator should agree on warehouses, the source of prices, reservations, fields, document types, and schedule. The website needs a compatible connection; depending on the platform, a developer installs a module or creates an adapter—a program that transforms and transfers data. Hosting, platform access, permissions, and support costs should be agreed separately.

The connection guide defines the limits of data exchange: there is no universal, open application programming interface (API) for arbitrary document management. Synchronising products and new orders does not automatically provide advertising attribution or bank reconciliation. Before launch, check product options, zero stock, payment, duplicate order imports, and the returns process. Assign a staff member to reconcile exceptions and confirm the actual results of data exchange.

A weekly work plan for an online store owner

Keep one working spreadsheet with metrics and decisions. Each week, choose an action based on the reason fulfilled purchases are being lost, as confirmed by the store’s records. Make any other essential corrections, such as fixing a payment error, immediately and mark them in the report, since they affect comparisons.