gmv for e-commerce retail companies means sale price charged to the customer multiplied by the number of items sold. for example, if a company sells 10 books at $100, the gmv is $1,000. this is also considered as "gross revenue". in this case, the business model is based on a retail model, where the company basically purchases the items, maintains inventory (if need be) and finally, sells or delivers the items to customers. it does not tell the net sales as gmv does not include costs involved and returns of products.