What is gross merchandise value?
Gross merchandise value (GMV) on a delivery app is the total value of the orders placed through it over a period, at the prices customers pay, before the app's commission and usually before refunds; platforms report it in aggregate, while Dashmote observes the menus and prices behind it on 15M+ storefronts. It measures how much is sold through the app, not what the app earns, so a brand reads it as the size of the prize on each delivery shelf.
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The formula
GMV = number of orders x average order value
Platform revenue = GMV x commission rate + fees charged to customers and restaurants
Average order value is the basket the customer pays for. What else sits inside GMV varies by company: some include delivery fees, service fees and tips, some exclude them, and some report gross order value or gross transaction value instead. Read the definition in the platform's report before comparing two platforms, because the same number of orders can produce different GMV figures.
Worked example
Take one delivery app in one city over one month, with amounts in price units.
- 200,000 orders at an average order value of 25. GMV = 200,000 x 25 = 5,000,000.
- Restaurants pay a commission of 20%: 5,000,000 x 0.20 = 1,000,000. Customers pay a delivery fee of 2.50 per order: 500,000. Platform revenue = 1,500,000, or 30% of GMV.
- Restaurants receive 5,000,000 - 1,000,000 = 4,000,000 before their own food, packaging and staff costs.
- One order in four includes a drink at 3.00: 50,000 x 3.00 = 150,000, or 3% of GMV.
Step 4 is the line a brand team cares about. A drink added to more baskets, or built into a combo, grows that slice without a single extra order.
GMV is not revenue
Quoting GMV as revenue makes a platform look several times larger than it is.
- GMV: the value of everything ordered through the app
- Revenue: what the app keeps, mainly commission and fees
- Take rate: revenue divided by GMV, the share of each order the app keeps
- Restaurant sales: GMV minus commission, from the outlet's side
What brand teams can see
Platforms publish GMV for whole countries or regions, not per storefront, so a brand never sees GMV for one restaurant. What is public is the storefront: its menu, prices, combos, rating and review count. Teams use those as relative signals to rank storefronts and cities by likely demand, never as sales figures.
DashONE reports those storefront signals across apps, which is how brand teams decide where a listing or a combo is worth the most. See food delivery insights and, for market context, the food delivery race in Europe.
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between GMV and revenue?
GMV is the total value of orders through the platform; revenue is the part the platform keeps, mainly commission and fees. Revenue divided by GMV is the take rate.
Does GMV include delivery fees and tips?
It depends on the company. Some include delivery fees, service fees and tips in GMV and some exclude them, so check the definition before comparing platforms.
Can a brand see GMV per restaurant?
No. Delivery apps do not publish orders or sales per storefront. Brands use public signals such as ratings, review counts, menu breadth and prices to rank storefronts instead.
Why do delivery platforms report GMV?
Because it shows how much business flows through the app, independent of how much the app charges. Growth in GMV with a stable take rate means more orders or bigger baskets.
How does GMV relate to average order value?
GMV is orders times average order value. A platform can grow GMV by adding orders or by getting each basket to include more, such as a drink or a dessert.