Read the discount report in Shopify
A discount code that works too well can eat the margin it was meant to protect. The Discounts by order report shows what each code actually gave away, so you can judge the code on money, not on how often it was typed in.
Written · Shopify admin, desktop steps · 6 minutes read
The worked example
| Period | October 2026 |
| WELCOME15 | 34 uses, $486.20 |
| SAVE20 | 12 uses, $240.00 |
| Total discount given | $726.20 |
| Total uses | 46 |
Download the record: discount-report.csv (87 bytes).
A discount record for the worked example month. The two code rows sum to $726.20 across 46 uses.
1Open the reports list
From your Shopify admin, go to Analytics then Reports. Click the Category filter and click Finances to show only the finance reports.
2Open Finance Summary
Click the Finance Summary report. Its Total sales breakdown card links to each of the other sales finance reports, including the discounts report.
3Open Discounts by order
Click the Discounts by order report. It includes the discounts customers received by using discount codes during checkout, and the discounts applied during checkout in Shopify POS.
4Read the two discount types
Read the split between line-item discounts, applied to a single product in an order, and order-level discounts, applied to an order as a whole. The split matters because an order-level discount is shared across the items in proportion to their prices.
5Group by discount code
Group the report by discount code to compare codes. In the worked example, WELCOME15 was used 34 times for $486.20 and SAVE20 was used 12 times for $240.00.
6Compare with the sales report
Open Total sales by discount codes under the Sales reports to cross-check. It groups order sales by the discount applied, so a code that looks cheap in the finance report can be checked against the sales it was attached to.
7Export the report
Click Export to download the report as a CSV file. When you open a finance report, the data is up to date, give or take about 1 minute.
The arithmetic
| Discount code | Uses | Discount given |
|---|---|---|
| WELCOME15, 15% off | 34 | $486.20 |
| SAVE20, $20 off | 12 | $240.00 |
| Total | 46 | $726.20 |
Average discount per use is $726.20 divided by 46 uses, which is $15.79. WELCOME15 gave 66.95% of the total discount, and SAVE20 gave 33.05%.
Held at the counter
Discounts are applied before taxes. The discount comes off the goods first, and tax is charged on the discounted amount. A report that adds tax before the discount will overstate what the customer paid.
Discounts are not related to compare-at prices. A product shown at a lower price than its compare-at price is not a discount in this report. Only codes and amounts applied at checkout count here.
An order-level discount is split across items. When a discount covers a whole order, Shopify splits it across the items in proportion to their prices. One item can look heavily discounted in the report while the code was really applied to the whole order.
Sources
- Finance reports — Shopify's help pages: the Discounts by order report and the line-item and order-level split.
- Sales reports — Shopify's help pages: the discounts definition and the Total sales by discount codes report.