WooCommerce Analytics is good at telling you what you sold: gross sales, net sales, orders and average order value. What it doesn't tell you is how much of that you kept.
Net sales isn't net profit
In WooCommerce reports, net sales means sales after refunds and coupons. It says nothing about what each order cost you to fulfil.
What the report leaves out
- What you paid for the products you sold
- Shipping you paid the carrier, not what the customer paid you
- Payment gateway fees
- Running costs like apps, hosting and packaging
One order, two numbers
The report says $80. The store kept $28.88. Decisions about discounts, free shipping thresholds and ad budgets look very different depending on which number you use.
Closing the gap
You need three things: a cost on every product, fee and shipping rules that match what you really pay, and your recurring expenses in the same place as your orders. With those in place, every order and product has a real margin.
See real net profit on every order after product cost, gateway fees, shipping and your business expenses.