GMV (Gross Merchandise Value)

Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) is the total dollar value of all transactions processed through a marketplace or platform over a given period. It is the top-line metric for marketplaces like Amazon, Airbnb, and Uber. GMV is explicitly not revenue: it includes the full transaction value, of which the marketplace only captures a portion (its take rate).

GMV matters because it indicates the scale and growth of marketplace activity, but it can also be misleading. Two marketplaces with identical GMV can have very different economics depending on their take rate, cancellation rate, and cost structure. A marketplace with $100M GMV and a 20% take rate earns $20M in revenue, while one with $100M GMV and a 3% take rate earns only $3M.

Investors evaluate marketplaces on GMV growth, take rate trends, net revenue (GMV times take rate), and contribution margin per transaction. Growing GMV while take rate declines may indicate a price war or unsustainable buyer subsidies. The strongest marketplaces show growing GMV with stable or increasing take rates, suggesting pricing power and genuine value delivery to both sides of the marketplace.