Store
Profit report
The Profit page of a store: every line from gross sales to net profit, how each is worked out, how monthly costs are shared out, and what is left out.
The Profit page shows what the store kept in the period: gross sales, less refunds, product cost, shipping, payment fees, ad spend and the other costs you enter. This page gives the formula behind every line, so you can check the numbers against your own books.
The date range and the comparison of the top bar apply. Filters do not, and neither does the model: every line is a store total, so the page has no model menu. Its subtitle names the period and the currency only.
The costs come from Settings, Costs: the cost rules, the product costs and the other costs. Costs and CSV upload explains how to enter them.
The tiles #
Six tiles sum up the period: Net profit, Margin, Contribution, MER, Ad spend and Refunds. Margin is net profit divided by gross sales after refunds. MER is gross sales divided by ad spend.
The lines #
| Line | How it is worked out |
|---|---|
| Gross sales | The amounts of the orders paid in the period, before refunds, with tax and shipping in them as the store charged them |
| Refunds | Refunds dated in the period, whatever day the order was placed |
| Product cost | For each line of each order: the quantity times the unit cost of its product. A product without a unit cost takes the default product cost, a share of its price |
| Shipping | The shipping cost per order, times the orders |
| Payment fees | For each order: its amount times the fee percentage, plus the fixed fee |
| Ad spend | The spend of every ad platform in the currency of the report |
| Contribution | Gross sales less refunds, product cost, shipping, payment fees and ad spend |
| Other costs | The cost lines of the site for the period, worked out as below |
| Net profit | Contribution less other costs |
Each line carries a tag that says what it covers: "store" for gross sales, "refunds" for refunds, "spend" for ad spend and "costs" for everything worked out from your cost settings. The Lines card lists them with their amount, their share of net revenue (gross sales after refunds) and their change against the comparison period. Under it, the other costs are listed one by one with their kind.
An order recorded without its line items counts the unit cost of its product once, or the default product cost of its amount when that product has no cost.
How other costs are counted #
A cost line is one of three kinds: Monthly, One-off and Share of revenue.
- Monthly. Each day carries its share of the month it is in: the amount divided by the days of that month. A cost of a month of thirty days counts a thirtieth on each of them, so a week of a range counts seven thirtieths. A line that starts or ends in the middle of a month counts only its own days.
- One-off. The whole amount on its day, if that day is in the period.
- Share of revenue. The percentage of the gross sales of the days it covers. A rule that starts in the middle of the period counts only the sales from that day on.
Ad platforms report spend per day, and cost lines are counted per day, so a range that starts in the middle of a day counts the part of that day it covers. A range of the last hours that began yesterday afternoon counts yesterday's spend and monthly costs by the share of yesterday's hours inside it, and all of today's so far. A one-off cost on yesterday counts the same share. Share-of-revenue costs need no such cut: they follow the orders of the period.
The charts #
The Where the money went card draws the period as a waterfall: a bar for gross sales, then one step down for each cost, ending on net profit. Each bar has its amount and its tag. With a comparison on, the comparison period is drawn as a thin outline behind each bar.
The Trend view draws gross sales, costs, ad spend and net profit over the period, one point per hour, day or week. Costs there are product cost, shipping, payment fees and other costs, with monthly costs shared out over the days as above. A day's spend and costs are spread evenly over its hours, and the points add up to the lines.
Cost coverage #
A profit report is only as good as its costs. The Cost coverage card checks three things: how many order lines have a unit cost, whether a shipping cost is set, and whether a payment fee is set. Each has a link to Settings, Costs for the people who may change them.
When products have no unit cost, a note at the top of the page names how many, and says that profit is overstated, since those lines only carry the default product cost. Products without a cost are listed with the most order lines first, so you can fill in the ones that matter.
What is not included #
- Tax. Gross sales include tax, as the store charged it, and no line takes it off. If you pay sales tax or VAT out of the amounts, enter it as a share of revenue.
- Amounts in another currency. Orders, spend and costs in another currency are never converted. Spend and costs in another currency are each listed in a note and left out.
- Payouts and real fees. Payment fees come from the rule you enter, not from your payment provider. Fees Shopify really charged are not read yet: see what works today.
Before there are costs #
A site without orders shows the panel to connect a store. A site with orders and no costs at all still shows the waterfall, with gross sales, refunds and ad spend only, and a note that asks for costs.