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How to See Top Selling Products on Shopify: A Comprehensive Guide

September 25, 2025
How to See Top Selling Products on Shopify: A Comprehensive Guide

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Understanding the Importance of Identifying Top-Selling Products
  3. Method 1: Utilizing Shopify's Built-in Sales Reports
  4. Method 2: Business Intelligence Tools for Enhanced Insights
  5. Method 3: Manual URL Adjustments for Collection Insights
  6. Method 4: Leveraging Online Tools for Competitive Research
  7. Troubleshooting Visibility Issues
  8. Tips for Leveraging Best-Sellers
  9. Conclusion
  10. FAQs

Introduction

Did you know that up to 30% of total sales for many ecommerce businesses come from just 10% of their products? This statistic underscores a crucial aspect of running a successful online store: identifying and promoting your best-selling products. Knowing how to spot these stars in your inventory can significantly enhance your sales and customer satisfaction.

In the rapidly evolving landscape of ecommerce, understanding what products perform best is more than just a routine task; it's a strategic advantage. Recognizing top-selling items informs everything from marketing efforts to inventory management, thus enabling us to optimize our operations and better cater to our customers' preferences.

This blog post will delve into effective methods for identifying top-selling products on Shopify. By the end, you’ll be equipped with practical techniques that can help you unfold hidden gems within your Shopify store while leveraging these insights to drive revenue growth. We will cover the essential tools available within the Shopify platform, external resources to enhance your sales analysis, and practical tips to leverage what we discover to enhance customer experience and boost sales.

Let’s embark on this journey together by exploring the insights that can revolutionize your approach to product visibility on Shopify.

Understanding the Importance of Identifying Top-Selling Products

Identifying top-sellers in your Shopify store is pivotal for several reasons:

  1. Maximizing Revenue: Knowing which products drive sales allows you to focus your marketing efforts and promotions on these items, optimizing your ROI.
  2. Enhancing Customer Experience: Highlighting best-sellers helps customers make informed decisions, particularly when they're unsure of which products to choose.
  3. Informed Inventory Management: Understanding what sells well can help you manage your stock effectively, minimizing lost sales from out-of-stock situations.
  4. Market Trends Insight: Regular analysis of your best-sellers can provide useful insights into consumer preferences and emerging trends, allowing you to adapt your inventory accordingly.

By integrating these insights into your strategic planning, we can cultivate a more efficient operation that ultimately supports business growth.

Method 1: Utilizing Shopify's Built-in Sales Reports

The first and foremost way we can identify best-selling products is through Shopify’s robust analytics tools. Here’s how we can leverage these reports:

Accessing Shopify Admin's Sales Report

To access the sales report within our Shopify admin area:

  • Step 1: Log into your Shopify account.
  • Step 2: Navigate to Analytics, then select Reports.
  • Step 3: Choose the “Categories” and select Sales.
  • Step 4: Opt for Sales by product to view detailed metrics on sales performance.

In this report, the top product displayed is your most sold item, which serves as a strong indicator of your best-seller. It’s critical to adjust the reporting period so that you can obtain relevant insights specific to your marketing campaigns or sales events.

Understanding Current Limitations

While this method is effective, it’s important to recognize its limitations. The built-in reports primarily highlight products based on total units sold, not necessarily profitability or customer satisfaction, which are crucial in determining a product's overall performance. To gain deeper insights, we may need to explore additional options.

Method 2: Business Intelligence Tools for Enhanced Insights

To go beyond basic reports, we can harness the power of Business Intelligence (BI) tools. These tools provide a detailed analysis of sales performance and customer behavior.

Popular BI Tools

  • Google Data Studio: Cost-effective and user-friendly, it allows us to visualize sales data interactively. By integrating it with Shopify, we can create comprehensive dashboards that pinpoint our strongest sellers and overall performance metrics.
  • Microsoft Power BI and Tableau: For those looking for more in-depth analysis, these paid solutions offer advanced capabilities, helping us uncover hidden trends and granular insights.

Setting Up BI Tools

Installing these integrations with Shopify is straightforward. By exporting data and creating dashboards, we enable ourselves to filter and display essential metrics tailored to our unique business needs.

Mini Case Study

For instance, a Shopify clothing store used Google Data Studio to create KPI dashboards to track their sales over a quarter. They discovered that a particular line of eco-friendly clothing outperformed others when combined with sustainable marketing strategies. This newfound insight enabled them to pivot their inventory towards eco-friendly options and enhance their marketing focus accordingly.

Method 3: Manual URL Adjustments for Collection Insights

Another straightforward tactic to discover our best-selling products involves manipulating the URL structure of our collection pages.

Using URL Modifications

By adding specific parameters to the collection URL, we can sort products by best sellers:

  1. Best-Selling Products: Append ?sort_by=best-selling to the URL of your collection (e.g., /collections/all?sort_by=best-selling).
  2. Additional Sort Options: Similarly, we can explore ratings with ?sort_by=rating-desc or newest arrivals with ?sort_by=created-desc.

This method gives us immediate insight into our best products without requiring complex configurations or additional tools.

Practical Application

Consider a retailer specializing in handmade jewelry. By applying this URL strategy, they were able to sort their collection by best-sellers easily, quickly identifying top items and customizing their promotional campaigns to boost sales for these items.

Method 4: Leveraging Online Tools for Competitive Research

In addition to examining our downloads, we can expand our insights into competitors’ best sellers using online tools like SEMrush, SimilarWeb, and Ahrefs. These resources offer visibility into broader market trends and popular products across multiple Shopify stores.

Tools Overview

  • SimilarWeb: This tool allows us to analyze website traffic, which can inform us about the popularity of various online stores and their top-selling products.
  • SEMrush and Ahrefs: Both tools enable us to conduct SEO analysis that reveals keywords driving traffic to competitor stores, providing insights into consumer interests and behavior.

Strategies for Information Utilization

Understanding the competitive landscape can uncover opportunities for product innovation or marketing adjustments based on what is trending elsewhere.

Troubleshooting Visibility Issues

Sometimes, our best-selling products may not appear where expected. Here are a few steps we can take to troubleshoot:

  1. Check Product Availability: Ensure products are set to “Active” rather than “Draft.”
  2. Sales Channels: Verify that products are linked to the appropriate sales channels. If a product isn’t marked for visibility on the Online Store channel, it will remain hidden from customers.
  3. Review Product Tagging: Proper tagging is essential for ensuring items appear in relevant collections and searches. Make sure products are tagged with pertinent keywords.

By rectifying these common issues, we can ensure our best-selling products are visible to customers.

Tips for Leveraging Best-Sellers

Seeing the best-selling products is just the beginning; how we use this information is where we create real value.

Utilize "Best Seller" Labels

Using "Best Seller" badges on product listings can significantly influence purchasing decisions by providing social proof. This psychological nudge encourages hesitant customers, ultimately driving conversions.

Optimize Listings

Take the time to ensure that best-selling product pages are visually appealing and provide comprehensive information, including high-quality images and customer reviews. Enhanced product listings cultivate trust and encourage purchases.

Conclusion

In summary, identifying top-selling products on Shopify is vital for enhancing our business strategy. By utilizing built-in reports, BI tools, and URL modifications, we can gain valuable insights into our inventory. Furthermore, leveraging this information effectively can lead to improved customer experience and increased sales.

Each of these methods contributes to a well-rounded understanding of our merchandise and customer preferences. As we apply these techniques, we encourage you to reflect on how these strategies can transform your ecommerce operations.

FAQs

How often should I review my best-selling products?

Regularly reviewing your best-sellers—ideally monthly or quarterly—allows you to capture trends and adapt your strategies accordingly.

What should I do if my best-selling items go out of stock?

It’s crucial to monitor inventory levels closely and implement restocking strategies to maintain the availability of top-selling products, as they directly influence revenue.

Can I use these strategies to investigate competitors?

Absolutely! By utilizing tools like SimilarWeb and adjusting collection URLs, you can gain insights into what products are performing well for your competitors, aiding your own product offerings and marketing strategies.

What are the benefits of highlighting best-sellers in my store?

Highlighting best-sellers not only enhances customer confidence but also streamlines their decision-making process, potentially increasing sales conversion rates.

By combining these insights into a cohesive strategy, we can take significant steps toward maximizing our sales potential and fostering greater customer trust. Let's leverage this knowledge, alongside ShipAid’s innovative shipping solutions, to build a fulfilling ecommerce experience that resonates with our customers. If you'd like to explore how we can enhance your post-purchase experience together, don’t hesitate to check our interactive demo here and explore our free-to-install app here.


Participation is optional and ShipAid is not insurance. It does not provide indemnification for loss, damage, or liability. Instead, it allows brands to offer a free replacement if an item is not delivered or arrives in unsatisfactory condition. ShipAid does not sell or ship products, but provides tools for brands to manage replacements. All resolution decisions are made by the brand and may require proof of damage or non-delivery or other information

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