Most Shopify store owners open the analytics dashboard to check today’s revenue and close the tab. That leaves actionable data untouched. The stores that grow consistently use Shopify’s reports to identify where customers drop off, which channels produce buyers (not just visitors), and which products are building loyalty versus one-time purchases.
Reports Available by Plan Tier
| Report Category | Basic | Shopify | Advanced | Plus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overview dashboard | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Acquisition reports | Limited | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Behaviour reports (sessions, landing pages) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Customer reports (repeat purchase, LTV) | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Finance reports (payments, taxes, payouts) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Custom report builder | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| ABC inventory analysis | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Key Metrics Every Store Must Track
Conversion rate (CVR): Shopify reports this as “online store conversion rate” — sessions that resulted in a purchase divided by total sessions. Industry average sits around 1.5–3% for fashion and lifestyle brands. Below 1% indicates a checkout, trust, or product-market fit problem. Above 4% suggests you have a well-optimised store or a very bottom-of-funnel traffic mix.
Average order value (AOV): Total revenue divided by total orders. Improving AOV through bundles, upsells, or free shipping thresholds is the highest-leverage lever for profitability without increasing traffic spend.
Repeat purchase rate: Found under Analytics → Reports → Customers → Customer cohort analysis. A healthy DTC brand targets 25–35% repeat purchase rate within 90 days for the first cohort. Below 15% signals a retention problem — customers are not coming back.
Customer acquisition cost (CAC): Shopify does not calculate this natively. Divide your total paid marketing spend for a period by the number of new customers acquired in the same period. Compare against your first-order AOV and gross margin to determine if paid acquisition is profitable at first purchase or requires a second order to break even.
GA4 Integration Setup
Shopify’s native analytics does not track on-site behaviour (scroll depth, add-to-cart events, video views). GA4 fills this gap. Connect GA4 via Online Store → Preferences → Google Analytics. Enter your GA4 Measurement ID. Shopify will send purchase events, page views, and Enhanced Ecommerce events (view_item, add_to_cart, begin_checkout, purchase) automatically.
Enable Enhanced measurement in your GA4 property settings to capture scroll events and outbound clicks without additional code. For full funnel analysis, configure GA4 funnels under Explore → Funnel exploration using the standard checkout step events Shopify sends.
For deeper analytics implementation including server-side tagging and custom event tracking, Shopify development specialists can configure a setup that survives iOS privacy restrictions.
What Shopify Analytics Cannot Show You
- Session recordings and heatmaps (use Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity)
- Multi-touch attribution across channels (use Triple Whale or Northbeam)
- Email open/click attribution (use Klaviyo or your ESP’s native reports)
- Profitability per order (Shopify shows revenue, not COGS — integrate with Glew or Polar Analytics)
- Blended CAC across all channels (manual calculation or attribution platform required)
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does my Shopify conversion rate differ from my GA4 conversion rate?
Shopify counts a “session” differently from GA4. Shopify sessions reset at midnight and after 30 minutes of inactivity. GA4 sessions may persist differently based on your session timeout settings. Additionally, GA4 can under-report conversions due to ad-blockers and iOS privacy restrictions that prevent the GA4 pixel firing. Treat Shopify’s conversion rate as the authoritative figure for purchase data.
How do I find out which products are most viewed but least purchased?
In Shopify analytics, go to Reports → Behaviour → Product performance. Sort by “Sessions” descending, then look at the “Conversion rate” column. High-session, low-conversion products have a traffic-to-purchase problem — usually a pricing, imagery, description, or trust signal issue that warrants a dedicated CRO review.
Can I schedule Shopify analytics reports to be emailed automatically?
Yes. In Advanced plan and above, any saved report can be scheduled for automatic email delivery (daily, weekly, or monthly) to any email addresses you specify. On lower plans, you can export reports manually to CSV. For automated reporting on all plans, Shopify Flow can trigger CSV exports and send them via email on a schedule.
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