To increase average order value on Shopify, give customers a useful reason to add more to each order. You can bundle products that solve one need, recommend complementary items, offer quantity breaks for repeat-use products, or set a free-shipping or free-gift threshold slightly above a typical order.
Start with your current order data. If most customers buy one item, test a complementary cross-sell or starter bundle. If customers already buy several units of the same product, quantity breaks may be more effective. If many carts sit just below a certain value, test an achievable shipping or gift threshold.
Shopify can handle several basic AOV strategies without another paid app. Shopify Bundles can create bundle products, Search & Discovery can show related products, and Shopify Discounts can support automatic discounts and Buy X Get Y offers. An app becomes useful when you need visible quantity tiers, complex bundle rules, automatically added gifts, cart offers, post-purchase upsells, or campaign testing.
However, a higher AOV does not automatically mean a better business result. An offer can increase order value while reducing conversion or profit because of larger discounts, shipping subsidies, or higher return rates.
Measure average order value together with conversion rate, revenue per session, average units ordered, and contribution margin. The goal is not the highest possible AOV. The goal is a larger, more useful order that generates more profit without making the store harder to buy from.
11 Ways to Increase Average Order Value on Shopify
1. Set a Profit-Safe Free-Shipping Threshold
Free shipping can encourage customers to add another product instead of paying a delivery fee.
Do not automatically set the threshold 30% above AOV. A 20–30% increase over a typical order range can be a starting hypothesis, but the final threshold must reflect your product prices, margin, shipping cost, and customer behavior.
Example:
- Typical order: $48
- Average shipping cost: $7
- Gross margin: 55%
- Logical add-on: $14
- Proposed threshold: $60
If a customer moves from $48 to $62, the additional $14 creates approximately $7.70 in gross product profit before payment and fulfillment costs.
That amount only narrowly covers a $7 shipping subsidy. The offer may work, but it must be tested carefully.
A good threshold should:
- Be close enough to feel achievable
- Have a logical product that closes the gap
- Protect gross margin
- Work across important shipping zones
- Be clear on product and cart pages
- Avoid encouraging unnecessary purchases
Shopify lets merchants create price-based free-shipping rates through shipping settings. Review the current instructions in Shopify’s shipping-rate documentation.
2. Create Outcome-Based Product Bundles
A useful bundle helps the customer complete a task or achieve an outcome.
Examples include:
- A skincare starter routine
- A complete coffee brewing kit
- A travel-size collection
- A pet grooming set
- A “complete the look” apparel bundle
- A refill package
- A gift set
Do not bundle unrelated products only because they are slow-moving. The customer should immediately understand why the items belong together.
A bundle does not always need a large discount. Convenience, easier product selection, exclusive packaging, or a small added benefit may provide enough value.
Shopify’s first-party Bundles app can create straightforward bundle products and keep component inventory connected. More advanced bundle designs may require an app.
3. Offer Quantity Breaks and Volume Discounts
Quantity breaks are most effective when customers naturally need several units.
Good product categories include:
- Supplements
- Beauty consumables
- Food and beverages
- Pet supplies
- Household products
- Craft materials
- Wholesale products
A simple offer could be:
| Quantity | Price per item |
|---|---|
| 1 | $20.00 |
| 2 | $18.00 |
| 4 | $16.50 |
Each tier should match a believable customer need. Do not add an unrealistic highest tier only to make the first discount look attractive.
Measure average units ordered, tier selection, gross margin, return rate, and repurchase timing. A large first order may delay the next purchase, so immediate AOV is not the only result.
For a detailed implementation guide, read how to set up Shopify volume discounts.
4. Cross-Sell Complementary Products
Cross-selling answers this question:
What else would make the original purchase more useful?
Examples include:
- Camera and memory card
- Shoes and care kit
- Coffee and filters
- Skincare product and applicator
- Dress and matching accessory
A good cross-sell is relevant, easy to understand, and normally lower or similar in price to the main product.
Shopify’s Search & Discovery app can manage related and complementary product recommendations when the store’s theme supports the required product blocks.
Avoid showing the same generic bestseller beside every product. Recommendations should reflect the product the customer is already considering.
5. Upsell a Better Version or Size
Upselling encourages the customer to choose a higher-value version of the same solution.
Use a clear value ladder:
- Good: Core product
- Better: Larger size or improved material
- Best: Premium version or complete package
Explain the additional benefit of each option. “Premium” is not enough if the customer cannot see what makes it better.
For example, a skincare brand might compare:
- 30-day starter size
- 60-day standard size with a lower cost per use
- Complete routine with an additional treatment
Keep the lower-priced option visible. Hiding it can reduce trust and conversion.
6. Add a Relevant Cart Upsell
The cart is a good place for a simple, low-consideration add-on.
Suitable cart offers include:
- Gift wrapping
- Refills
- Product-care accessories
- Small replacement parts
- Travel sizes
- Protection products
Avoid recommending products that require the customer to leave the cart and research sizes, ingredients, configurations, or compatibility.
The cart should still feel like the end of the shopping process. One clear offer is usually better than several sliders, countdowns, and popups competing for attention.
7. Use Checkout Upsells Carefully
A checkout upsell appears after the customer has shown strong purchase intent.
The offer should be easy to evaluate without interrupting payment. Suitable options include a small accessory, service upgrade, gift packaging, or simple add-on.
Checkout customization depends on the merchant’s Shopify plan, checkout surface, and installed app. Advanced changes to the information, shipping, and payment pages are generally more restricted than changes to post-purchase, Thank You, or Order Status experiences.
Do not assume that every checkout upsell requires Shopify Plus. Check the current app and plan requirements before choosing a placement.
8. Add a Post-Purchase Offer
A post-purchase offer appears after the original payment and before the order confirmation experience.
Because the first order is already complete, the offer does not interrupt the original buying decision. It still needs to be relevant.
Good post-purchase products include:
- An accessory for the purchased product
- A refill
- A second unit at a small discount
- A digital guide
- A service add-on
- A giftable duplicate
Post-purchase offers require a compatible checkout app. Shopify allows only one checkout app to provide post-purchase features at a time, so audit your current checkout apps before enabling a new offer.
9. Offer a Free Gift or BOGO at a Threshold
A free gift can protect perceived product value better than a sitewide percentage discount.
For example:
- Spend $75 and receive a travel-size product
- Buy two items and receive a matching accessory
- Buy one refill and get the second at a discount
The gift is not free to the merchant. Include its cost, pick-and-pack work, packaging, and shipping weight in the calculation.
Shopify supports Buy X Get Y discounts. Depending on the setup, customers may need to add both the qualifying item and the reward item to the cart. An app becomes useful when you want to automatically add a gift, let customers choose a reward, or create more advanced conditions.
Test discount combinations before launch. A bundle, automatic discount, free-shipping code, and loyalty reward may not combine in the way customers expect.
10. Improve Product Merchandising
An app cannot fix an irrelevant offer.
Before adding another tool, check:
- Are bestsellers easy to find?
- Does the product page explain which items work together?
- Is the recommended add-on in stock?
- Are size and price steps logical?
- Does the bundle solve a real customer need?
- Is the offer clear on mobile?
- Can customers see the discount before checkout?
- Does the product image show what the bundle includes?
Sometimes the best AOV improvement comes from better product names, clearer comparisons, stronger product photography, or moving an existing recommendation to a more visible position.
11. Use Loyalty, Subscriptions, or Installments Selectively
These tools can support larger purchases, but they do not solve the same problem.
- Loyalty programs mainly encourage retention and repeat purchases.
- Subscriptions mainly improve repeat frequency and predictable revenue.
- Installments can reduce payment friction for eligible high-value orders.
A subscription may raise the initial order value if customers choose a larger refill plan. However, its main value may be customer lifetime value rather than AOV.
Similarly, installments can make a high-ticket purchase easier, but the merchant must review eligibility, payment costs, and refund handling.
Use these tools when they match customer behavior. Do not add them only because they appear on a list of AOV strategies.
Which AOV Tactic Fits Your Shopify Store?
Use product type and order behavior to narrow your first test.
| Store or product type | First tactic to consider | Why it fits |
|---|---|---|
| Consumables | Quantity breaks or refill bundles | Customers naturally use several units over time |
| Beauty and skincare | Routine bundles or complementary cross-sells | Products often work together |
| Apparel | Complete-the-look recommendations | Customers can add matching items |
| Food and beverage | Multipacks or free-shipping threshold | Larger orders reduce purchasing frequency |
| Electronics | Accessories and protection products | Add-ons make the main product more useful |
| Pet supplies | Refill bundles or subscriptions | Demand is often predictable |
| Gifts | Gift sets, wrapping, and threshold gifts | Convenience increases perceived value |
| B2B or wholesale | Tiered pricing and order limits | Buyers purchase in larger quantities |
| High-ticket products | Good-better-best upsell or installments | Customers need clear value and payment flexibility |
| Stores with strong conversion but small orders | Cart or post-purchase offer | The main purchase decision is already working |
Do not copy a strategy simply because another store uses it. An offer that works for coffee may not work for custom furniture.
What Shopify Can Do Natively
Shopify can support several basic AOV strategies without a separate paid app.
| AOV tactic | Native Shopify option | When an app becomes useful |
|---|---|---|
| Free shipping over an amount | Shipping rates or free-shipping discount | Dynamic progress bars, recommendations, or complex market rules |
| Basic product bundle | Shopify Bundles | Build-a-box, advanced rules, quantity tiers, or campaign testing |
| Related products | Search & Discovery | Cart recommendations, personalization, or advanced placements |
| Amount-based discount | Shopify Discounts | Multiple visible tiers or complex conditions |
| Buy X Get Y | Shopify Discounts | Auto-added gifts, gift selection, or advanced BOGO rules |
| Quantity breaks | Basic discount configurations | Visible tiered pricing and product-specific rules |
| Cart upsell | Theme-dependent recommendations | Dynamic cart-drawer offers and targeting |
| Checkout upsell | Compatible checkout app | The app supplies the offer interface and logic |
| Post-purchase upsell | No complete native offer builder | A compatible app is required |
| A/B testing | No complete native AOV testing workflow | Offer-level testing and campaign analytics |
NOTE: Shopify Bundles is suitable for straightforward fixed or configurable bundle products with connected inventory.
Use it when customers need to purchase a defined group of products together.
A third-party app may be more appropriate when you need:
- Mix-and-match bundles
- Build-a-box experiences
- Quantity tiers
- Conditional discounts
- Free gifts
- BOGO campaigns
- Bundle widgets on existing product pages
- Post-purchase offers
- Offer testing
Review Shopify’s current bundle documentation before building the offer.
Search & Discovery Recommendations
Shopify Search & Discovery can manage related and complementary products.
Use complementary recommendations for products that improve the current purchase. Use related recommendations to help customers compare similar options.
The store’s theme must support the relevant product-recommendation blocks. Test the experience on desktop and mobile.
Free Shipping and Automatic Discounts
Shopify supports price-based free-shipping rates and automatic discounts.
These native tools are useful for simple offers, but storefront messaging may depend on the theme. Customers need to know:
- The threshold
- How much more they need to spend
- Whether the offer applies to their location
- Which products qualify
- Whether another discount can be combined
An invisible threshold does not influence customer behavior.
Buy X Get Y
Shopify’s Buy X Get Y discounts can support basic gift and BOGO campaigns.
Test the complete cart flow before promotion. Confirm whether customers must manually add the reward product, whether discounts combine, and what happens when the reward is out of stock.
When You Need a Shopify AOV App
Use an app when the offer needs more control than Shopify’s native tools provide.
This commonly includes:
- Several quantity tiers
- Visible per-unit pricing
- Mix-and-match bundles
- Build-a-box offers
- Automatically added gifts
- Customer gift selection
- Product- or collection-specific rules
- Dynamic cart recommendations
- Post-purchase offers
- Campaign analytics
- A/B testing
- Do not choose an app only from its feature count. Check theme compatibility, discount combinations, inventory behavior, mobile design, checkout support, reporting, and customer support.
If Shopify’s native tools do not support the rules you need, OC: Bundle App & Bulk Discount can create bundles, quantity breaks, free gifts, BOGO offers, frequently bought together campaigns, and post-purchase upsells from one Shopify app.
Start with one campaign. Adding every available widget at once can create overlapping discounts and a crowded storefront.
How to Test an AOV Offer
Treat each AOV offer as a business test, not a permanent promotion.
Choose a Baseline
Use a stable period before the campaign. Twenty-eight days can be a useful starting point if the store has enough normal order volume.
Record:
- AOV
- Median or typical order band
- Average units ordered
- Conversion rate
- Revenue per session
- Gross profit per order
- Contribution per session
- Discount per order
- Shipping subsidy
- Return rate
- New versus returning customer AOV
Avoid comparing a holiday sale with a normal month.
Define the Offer and Audience
Write down:
- Who can see the offer
- Which products qualify
- Where the offer appears
- What the customer receives
- Which discounts can combine
- When the campaign starts and ends
- What result counts as success
- What result requires the campaign to stop
A clear offer is easier to test than a collection of changing promotions.
Track AOV, Conversion, Revenue per Session, and Profit
Do not keep an offer only because AOV increased.
Review the complete result:
| Metric | Question |
|---|---|
| AOV | Did completed orders become larger? |
| Average units ordered | Did customers buy more items? |
| Conversion rate | Did the offer create friction? |
| Revenue per session | Did the store earn more from its traffic? |
| Contribution per order | Did the additional revenue cover its costs? |
| Contribution per session | Did the test create more profit from the same traffic? |
| Offer take rate | Did eligible customers use the offer? |
| Return rate | Did larger orders create more returns? |
Check Mobile, Discounts, Inventory, and Returns
Before launch, test:
- Mobile product pages
- Cart drawer and full cart
- Discount codes
- Automatic discounts
- Subscription items
- Out-of-stock products
- Mixed carts
- Different currencies or Markets
- Accelerated checkout
- Post-purchase fulfillment
- Partial refunds
- Bundle returns
A campaign can look correct on desktop while hiding the checkout button or offer terms on mobile.
Final Recommendation
Start with the customer’s buying behavior, not an app feature.
If most customers purchase one product, test a relevant add-on or outcome-based bundle. If they already buy several units, test quantity breaks. If carts regularly stop near a certain value, test a profit-safe shipping or gift threshold. If conversion is strong, consider a simple cart or post-purchase offer.
Use Shopify Bundles, Search & Discovery, shipping rates, and discounts when your offer is simple. Use an AOV app when you need visible quantity tiers, complex bundle rules, automatically added gifts, cart offers, post-purchase upsells, or campaign testing.
OC: Bundle App & Bulk Discount brings bundles, volume discounts, quantity breaks, free gifts, BOGO campaigns, frequently bought together offers, and post-purchase upsells into one app.
Whatever tool you choose, measure conversion rate, revenue per session, and contribution together with AOV. A larger basket is valuable only when it creates more profit and keeps the shopping experience easy.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Is a Good Average Order Value for a Shopify Store?
There is no universal good AOV. It depends on product price, gross margin, customer type, location, purchase frequency, and category. Compare your store with its own historical baseline, median order value, product mix, and contribution margin.
Where Can I Find Average Order Value in Shopify?
Open Shopify Analytics and look for reports such as Average order value over time or Orders over time. Report names and availability can vary by plan and permissions. Always use the same report when comparing a campaign with its baseline.
Should I Set Free Shipping 30% Above AOV?
Not automatically. A range of 20–30% above a typical order can be a starting hypothesis, but the threshold must also reflect your most common order range, product prices, gross margin, shipping cost, and available add-ons.
Can Shopify Create Product Bundles Without an App?
Yes. Shopify Bundles supports basic bundle products with connected inventory. Use an app when you need advanced bundle layouts, build-a-box offers, quantity tiers, free gifts, BOGO rules, or campaign testing.
Can Shopify Create Quantity Discounts Without an App?
Shopify discounts can support some quantity-based promotions, but native options may not provide visible multi-tier pricing or advanced product rules. A quantity-break or bundle app is useful for more complex offers.
What Is the Difference Between Upselling and Cross-Selling?
Upselling encourages the customer to choose a better or larger version of the same solution. Cross-selling recommends a complementary product that makes the original purchase more useful.
Do I Need Shopify Plus for Post-Purchase Upsells?
Not necessarily. Post-purchase offers require a compatible checkout app, but they are not universally limited to Shopify Plus. Plan requirements can differ for checkout-page customizations, so confirm the current requirements for your chosen app and placement.
Can a Higher AOV Reduce Conversion?
Yes. An expensive threshold, confusing bundle, aggressive popup, or unnecessary checkout step can raise order value among buyers while causing more visitors to leave. Measure conversion rate and revenue per session with AOV.
How Long Should I Test an AOV Offer?
Run the test through at least one normal business cycle and collect enough completed orders to compare results. Twenty-eight days can be a useful starting baseline, but the required period depends on traffic, order volume, seasonality, and the size of the change.
How Do I Know Whether an AOV Offer Is Profitable?
Calculate the incremental revenue and subtract COGS, discounts, free-shipping costs, payment fees, variable fulfillment costs, and additional returns. Then compare contribution per session before and after the offer.
