How to Set Sales Targets: Boost Your Retail Revenue

Sales Target Setting: Best Practices to Drive Business Growth

Learn how to set sales targets with this step-by-step guide to boost your retail revenue.

This post will cover the key strategies you need to know and how to set monthly and annual targets in your product business.

Why set sales targets in your retail business?

Setting sales targets isn’t just about predicting how much money you’ll make—it’s about creating a clear plan with actionable goals. It helps you identify the key areas that will drive revenue in your business and ensures you’re focused on the right strategies.

By setting well-defined sales targets, you can plan ahead, manage your stock efficiently, and maintain healthy cash flow. Your goals should be ambitious yet achievable—pushing you to grow while staying realistic.

So, ask yourself:

What sales goals are you working towards right now?

Having a specific target gives you a clear direction and increases your chances of hitting your numbers. After all, when you know exactly what you’re aiming for, you’re far more likely to get there!

Grow your sales steadily

Unless you have ads or a massive marketing push, it’s important to grow your sales incrementally and set sales targets that are a push, but still achievable.

There is no point saying you will make £5k a month if you are currently making £500 a month.

Start with a goal that is reasonable, but slightly higher than the current sales you make. The number should be motivating, a bit scary, but not so off-putting that it puts you off.

How to set your sales targets

Look at how much you made in the past year by month.
What are your average monthly & weekly sales?
If you’v been trading for a few years, are your sales growing each year, and if so by how much? (in a %)
Consider any launches, events and gift occasions that will boost sales this year.
What looks sensible?

To work out your year-on-year (YoY) or month- on-month (MoM) growth look at your shop stats or use the formula:

new number – old number ( ÷ old number) X 100

Keep it simple to start with with your sales targets. If on average you are making £1,000 a month and currently growing 30% YoY, then your monthly sales target could be £1,300.

It is also worth thinking about a good, better, best sales targets, so you have the minimum you want to make and a stretch target.

Using the example above this could be:

Good – £1,000
Better – £1,300
Best – £1,600

Create a stock plan

Then break it down by week or look at it in units/orders per day or week so you know how much to sell. Use your average order value (AOV) to create this number.

AOV = total £ sales ÷ total orders or products sold

This way it makes the £ number goal more tangible as you have a stock plan and can put a plan in place to sell this number of products.

Take into account peaks in sales for gift occasions and launches.
Do you have enough products in stock to hit your targets?
What marketing channels will drive these sales?

Track your sales

Review your sales weekly and monthly to see if you are on track to meet your sales targets. If you’re not, think about what you can do to drive more sales.

Think back, when sales have been good for you, what did you do:

What marketing worked well?
Did you exhibit at any events or fairs?
Did someone feature you?
Was there a gift occasion?

How can you replicate this sales success?

Celebrate hitting your sales targets!

And celebrate when you achieve your sales targets! You can always have more sales, but if you reach them, celebrate so you motivate yourself to reach your next and bigger goal and see your business growing.

Tracking your sales will also mean you can re-forecast when needed. If your sales are growing, then look at extending your sales targets so you can push to reach the next level.

And remember: