Average transaction value, often shortened to ATV and also called average sale or average spend, is total takings divided by the number of separate sales over the same period. Every till system can report it, usually by day, by week and by hour. It is one of the three numbers that make up a shop's revenue, along with how many people come in and how many of them buy, and it is the easiest of the three to nudge without spending money.
Be consistent about what goes into it. Compare weeks with the same treatment of GST, refunds and voided sales, or the trend will mislead you. A week with a big catering order in it will lift the average without anything changing at the counter, so set unusual sales aside.
In practice
A cafe's till shows $18,400 in sales from 1,150 transactions in a normal week, an average transaction value of $16.00. The owner wants a stamp rule based on spend rather than items, so staff are not counting cups during the rush. Setting the rule at one stamp per visit over $15 means most ordinary visits earn a stamp, while a single small coffee on its own does not. If the threshold were $25, well above the average, most visits would miss out and the card would feel stingy.
The average is also a useful lever on its own. If that cafe lifts its average by just $1, through a well-placed pastry cabinet or a staff habit of offering a second item, that is $1,150 more a week, or $59,800 over 52 weeks, with no extra customers at all.
Watch the average next to the number of transactions. A rising average with falling transactions can mean fewer people are buying more each, which is not always good news for a shop that depends on habit.