How to Use Top Products in Shopify: Step-by-Step Tutorial

Master product performance analytics to identify your revenue drivers and optimize your inventory strategy

Introduction to Top Products Analysis

Understanding which products drive your Shopify store's success is fundamental to making informed business decisions. Whether you're managing inventory, planning marketing campaigns, or optimizing your product catalog, knowing your top performers transforms raw sales data into actionable insights.

Many Shopify merchants struggle with the same questions: Which products should I restock? Where should I focus my advertising budget? What items are my customers actually buying versus what I think they're buying? This tutorial will walk you through a systematic approach to answering these critical questions using product performance analytics.

By the end of this guide, you'll be able to identify your best-selling products by both quantity and revenue, understand your product mix distribution, and extract meaningful insights from your sales data. This knowledge empowers you to make data-driven decisions that directly impact your bottom line.

Prerequisites and Data Requirements

Before diving into top products analysis, ensure you have the following in place:

Required Access

Data Quality Checklist

Recommended Tools

Time Required: Approximately 15-20 minutes to complete this tutorial and generate your first insights.

What You'll Accomplish

This tutorial guides you through four essential analyses that every Shopify merchant should perform regularly:

  1. Identify Best-Sellers by Volume: Discover which products customers purchase most frequently
  2. Analyze Revenue Drivers: Determine which products generate the most total revenue
  3. Understand Product Mix: Visualize the distribution of sales across your catalog
  4. Track Monthly Top Performers: Monitor your top 10 products for current period performance

Each step builds upon the previous one, creating a comprehensive view of your product performance. You'll learn not just how to extract the data, but how to interpret it for strategic decision-making.

Step 1: What Are My Best-Selling Products?

Best-selling products by quantity reveal which items resonate most with your customers. These high-velocity products often indicate strong market fit and customer preference.

Using Shopify Admin Dashboard

  1. Log in to your Shopify Admin panel
  2. Navigate to Analytics > Reports
  3. Select Sales by product from the report list
  4. Set your date range (recommend starting with last 30 days)
  5. Sort by Quantity Sold in descending order

Expected Output

You'll see a table showing:

Product Name                  | Quantity Sold | Net Sales
---------------------------------------------------------
Organic Cotton T-Shirt - Blue |     234       | $4,212.00
Leather Wallet - Brown        |     189       | $5,481.00
Ceramic Coffee Mug            |     156       | $2,496.00
Wool Beanie - Black           |     142       | $2,130.00

Key Insight

Notice the difference: The product with the highest quantity (234 units) doesn't necessarily generate the most revenue. The Leather Wallet sold fewer units (189) but generated more total revenue ($5,481 vs $4,212). This distinction is crucial for understanding your business.

Using MCP Analytics

For more advanced analysis with custom date ranges and filtering, use the Top Products analysis tool:

// Example query structure
{
  "metric": "quantity_sold",
  "date_range": "last_30_days",
  "sort_order": "desc",
  "limit": 20
}

What to Look For

Step 2: Which Products Generate the Most Revenue?

Revenue analysis shifts focus from volume to profit potential. A product selling 10 units at $500 each contributes more to your bottom line than one selling 100 units at $20 each.

Analyzing Revenue by Product

  1. In Shopify Admin, return to Analytics > Reports
  2. Select the same Sales by product report
  3. This time, sort by Net Sales (revenue) in descending order
  4. Note the differences from your quantity-sorted list

Expected Output

Product Name                  | Quantity Sold | Net Sales
---------------------------------------------------------
Premium Leather Jacket        |      28       | $8,960.00
Leather Wallet - Brown        |     189       | $5,481.00
Designer Sunglasses           |      45       | $4,950.00
Organic Cotton T-Shirt - Blue |     234       | $4,212.00

Critical Analysis

Notice how the Premium Leather Jacket appears at the top despite selling only 28 units. At approximately $320 per unit, it's your revenue champion. This data-driven approach, similar to methodologies used in AI-first data analysis pipelines, helps prioritize products based on financial impact rather than just popularity.

Calculate Average Order Value by Product

Understanding the average price point helps with pricing strategy:

Average Product Price = Net Sales ÷ Quantity Sold

Premium Leather Jacket: $8,960 ÷ 28 = $320.00
Organic Cotton T-Shirt: $4,212 ÷ 234 = $18.00

Strategic Applications

Revenue vs. Margin Consideration

Remember that revenue doesn't equal profit. A $300 jacket with $250 in costs yields less margin than a $20 t-shirt with $5 in costs. For complete analysis, consider:

// Profit Margin Analysis
Product Margin = (Selling Price - COGS) ÷ Selling Price

Leather Jacket: ($320 - $250) ÷ $320 = 21.9%
Cotton T-Shirt: ($18 - $5) ÷ $18 = 72.2%

Step 3: What's My Product Mix by Quantity?

Product mix analysis reveals the diversity and concentration of your sales. Are you dependent on one hero product, or do you have a balanced portfolio?

Understanding the 80/20 Rule

The Pareto Principle often applies to e-commerce: approximately 80% of your revenue comes from 20% of your products. Identifying this distribution helps strategic planning.

Creating a Product Mix Analysis

  1. Export your sales by product report from Shopify (button in top-right of report)
  2. Open the CSV file in a spreadsheet application
  3. Calculate total units sold: =SUM(B:B) (assuming quantity is in column B)
  4. For each product, calculate percentage: =B2/$B$1000 (adjust for your total row)
  5. Create a cumulative percentage column

Example Calculation

Product                    | Units | % of Total | Cumulative %
------------------------------------------------------------------
Organic Cotton T-Shirt     | 234   |   22.1%    |    22.1%
Leather Wallet             | 189   |   17.8%    |    39.9%
Ceramic Mug                | 156   |   14.7%    |    54.6%
Wool Beanie                | 142   |   13.4%    |    68.0%
Denim Jeans                |  98   |    9.2%    |    77.2%
[15 other products]        | 241   |   22.8%    |   100.0%
------------------------------------------------------------------
TOTAL                      | 1,060 |  100.0%    |

Interpreting Results

Visualization with MCP Analytics

The Top Products service automatically generates product mix visualizations including pie charts and cumulative distribution curves, saving you manual calculation time.

Strategic Implications

Step 4: Top 10 Products This Month?

Monthly tracking helps identify trends, seasonality, and emerging winners. What sells in December differs from June—this step makes those patterns visible.

Setting Up Monthly Tracking

  1. In Shopify Admin, go to Analytics > Reports
  2. Select Sales by product
  3. Set date range to current month-to-date (e.g., "December 1-27, 2024")
  4. Sort by your preferred metric (revenue recommended)
  5. Limit view to top 10 products
  6. Export this report and save with naming convention: top10_products_2024_12.csv

Month-to-Date Example

Rank | Product                     | MTD Revenue | MTD Units | Avg Price
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  1  | Holiday Gift Set            | $3,240.00   |    72     | $45.00
  2  | Winter Scarf Collection     | $2,890.00   |   102     | $28.33
  3  | Premium Leather Jacket      | $2,560.00   |     8     | $320.00
  4  | Thermal Coffee Tumbler      | $1,980.00   |    99     | $20.00
  5  | Wool Beanie - Black         | $1,705.00   |    93     | $18.33
  6  | Leather Wallet - Brown      | $1,624.00   |    56     | $29.00
  7  | Cashmere Gloves             | $1,485.00   |    45     | $33.00
  8  | Designer Sunglasses         | $1,350.00   |    15     | $90.00
  9  | Organic Cotton T-Shirt      | $1,278.00   |    71     | $18.00
 10  | Denim Jeans - Slim Fit      | $1,176.00   |    24     | $49.00

Trend Analysis

Compare this month to the same month last year:

// Year-over-Year Comparison
Product                | Dec 2024 | Dec 2023 | Change  | % Growth
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Holiday Gift Set       | $3,240   | $2,100   | +$1,140 | +54.3%
Winter Scarf           | $2,890   | $3,200   | -$310   | -9.7%
Thermal Tumbler        | $1,980   | $0       | +$1,980 | New!

Automating Monthly Reports

For consistent tracking without manual effort:

  1. Navigate to Analytics > Reports
  2. Click Create custom report
  3. Select monthly schedule and email delivery
  4. Choose recipients and format preferences

Alternatively, use MCP Analytics automated reporting for more customization and comparative analytics.

Identifying Emerging Trends

Action Items from Monthly Data

Interpreting Your Results

Raw data becomes valuable when you extract actionable insights. Here's how to interpret your top products analysis for maximum business impact.

The Revenue vs. Volume Matrix

Classify your products into four categories:

                     HIGH REVENUE
                          |
          STAR PRODUCTS   |   PREMIUM PRODUCTS
         (High Vol/Rev)   |   (Low Vol/High Rev)
                          |
    -------------------------------------------- HIGH VOLUME
                          |
       VOLUME DRIVERS     |   UNDERPERFORMERS
      (High Vol/Low Rev)  |   (Low Vol/Low Rev)
                          |
                     LOW REVENUE

Strategic Actions by Category

Cohort Analysis

Similar to techniques used in accelerated failure time models, examine how product performance changes over time:

Customer Behavior Insights

Top products reveal customer preferences:

Competitive Positioning

Use top product data to understand your market position:

Common Issues and Solutions

Even with clean data and proper setup, you may encounter these common challenges when analyzing top products.

Issue 1: Variants Showing as Separate Products

Problem: "Blue T-Shirt" and "Red T-Shirt" appear as different products instead of grouped together.

Solution:

  1. In Shopify Admin, verify products are configured with variants, not as separate products
  2. For reporting, use the Sales by product variant report to see individual variants
  3. Use Sales by product (parent product) to see consolidated totals
  4. If already created as separate products, consider merging them into a single product with variants

Issue 2: Revenue Numbers Don't Match Accounting

Problem: Analytics revenue differs from your bank deposits or accounting software.

Solution:

Issue 3: Missing Products in Report

Problem: Known products aren't appearing in your top products list.

Solution:

  1. Check your date range—product may not have sold in selected period
  2. Verify product status is "Active" not "Draft" or "Archived"
  3. Ensure orders are marked "Paid" or "Fulfilled" not "Pending"
  4. Look for the product in a longer date range to confirm it has sales history

Issue 4: Inconsistent Month-to-Month Rankings

Problem: Top 10 products change dramatically each month with no clear pattern.

Solution:

Issue 5: Data Export Formatting Problems

Problem: CSV exports have formatting issues or won't open correctly.

Solution:

  1. Use UTF-8 encoding when opening CSV files to preserve special characters
  2. In Excel: Use Data > From Text/CSV instead of double-clicking file
  3. In Google Sheets: Use File > Import and select appropriate delimiter
  4. Check that currency symbols aren't breaking number formatting

Issue 6: Can't Filter by Product Collection or Tag

Problem: You want top products only from specific collections (e.g., "Winter 2024").

Solution:

Issue 7: Understanding Statistical Significance

Problem: Unsure if product ranking changes are meaningful or random fluctuation.

Solution:

For stores with low order volumes, small changes may not be statistically significant. Learn more about statistical significance in A/B testing to understand when differences are meaningful. As a rule of thumb:

Accelerate Your Product Analysis

Manual product analysis in Shopify provides valuable insights, but as your catalog and order volume grow, automation becomes essential. The MCP Analytics platform eliminates repetitive data exports and calculations, delivering instant product performance insights.

Why Use MCP Analytics for Top Products?

Get Started in Minutes

Connect your Shopify store and start analyzing your top products immediately:

Analyze Your Top Products Now →

No credit card required for initial analysis. See your top 20 products by revenue and quantity in under 60 seconds.

Next Steps with Shopify Analytics

You've mastered top products analysis—now expand your analytical capabilities with these related tutorials and advanced techniques.

Immediate Actions

  1. Create a Top Products Dashboard: Save your favorite reports in Shopify for one-click access
  2. Set Calendar Reminders: Review top products weekly (for fast-moving stores) or monthly (for slower inventory turns)
  3. Share with Your Team: Export reports for merchandising, marketing, and inventory management teams
  4. Establish Baselines: Document current top 10 as your baseline for future comparison

Advanced Analysis Techniques

Integrate with Other Metrics

Top products analysis becomes more powerful when combined with:

Seasonal Planning

Use historical top products data for future planning:

Competitive Intelligence

Benchmark your top products against market trends:

Continuous Improvement

Product analysis is not a one-time task—make it part of your regular business rhythm:

Explore more: Shopify Analytics — all tools, tutorials, and guides →