Monthly baselines & CSV imports
Understand every field, fill the template, and check an import before saving.
Updated November 3, 2026 · Current pilot workspace
Use consistent monthly numbers
Open Baselines for the correct Selected store. Use a month in YYYY-MM format, from January 2020 through the current month. A completed month gives you a more comparable baseline than a partial month.
Use net revenue after discounts and refunds, excluding taxes. Record your treatment of shipping and keep it consistent. Orders from returning customers means orders, not the number of returning people or a customer retention rate.
Keep costs in the right place
Contribution margin is the percentage of that same net revenue left after variable costs such as products, fulfillment, payment fees, and shipping subsidies. Do not subtract discounts or refunds again if net revenue already excludes them.
Enter extra monthly platform costs separately and keep those costs out of your margin calculation. The workspace adds them to the monthly service fee and allocated setup cost. If you are unsure of your margin, resolve the inputs before using the result to make a decision.
Fill the template
Keep all seven columns in their original order. Each value is required. Use 0 for a true numeric zero; do not leave cells empty. Use plain numbers without currency signs, percent signs, or thousands separators. A 40% margin is entered as 40.
Use one row per month, with at most 24 rows and a file no larger than 64 KB. Save as a comma-separated UTF-8 CSV. Raw customer exports are not supported.
- Returning-customer orders cannot exceed total orders. Order counts must be whole, nonnegative numbers.
- If total orders are zero, revenue must also be zero. Revenue and additional platform costs cannot be negative; margin must be between 0 and 100.
- Add a source note of 5–500 characters. Include definitions and reporting limitations, without customer identifiers.
| Column | What to enter |
|---|---|
month | YYYY-MM, such as 2026-10 |
orders | Total orders as a whole number |
returning_orders | Orders placed by returning customers |
revenue | Net revenue in USD, such as 100000.50 |
margin | Contribution margin percentage, such as 40 |
platform_cost | Extra monthly platform costs in USD, or 0 |
source_note | Source, definitions, and limitations; 5–500 characters |
The example contains two fictional months. Use it in a separate practice store; replace every row with your own figures before using an import for business decisions.
Preview, then confirm
- Download the blank template below or from Baselines, then fill it with your own aggregate monthly data.
- In your selected store’s Baselines section, choose your completed CSV.
- Check the number of valid rows and the listed months. The preview has not saved anything yet.
- Choose Confirm import. Wait for the saved message, then check Saved reporting months.
What happens to an existing month?
Saving or importing the same reporting month replaces that store’s values for that month. Export your records first if you need the previous version. Duplicate months within one CSV are rejected.
If the file is rejected, read the row-specific error, fix the CSV, and choose it again. Keep the header order unchanged. Put a note containing commas inside double quotes; quotes within a quoted note must be doubled.
Ready for your next step?
Open your workspace to put this guide into practice, or ask us about something that is still unclear.