Read your sales reports in Shopify
The Analytics page is the first place to check how the store is doing, and the sales reports are the detail behind it. This tutorial reads one week of sales, 3 to 9 November 2026, from the dashboard down to the Total sales over time report.
Written · Shopify admin, desktop steps · 6 minutes read
The worked example
| Period | 3 to 9 November 2026 |
| Total sales | $3,890.40 |
| Orders | 127 |
| Average total sales per order | $30.63 |
| Best day | Sunday 8 November, $812.45 |
| Report used | Total sales over time |
Download the record: weekly-sales-record.csv (189 bytes).
A daily record of the worked example week, with the totals row summing to $3,890.40 and 127 orders. Keep it beside the exported report when you check the week.
1Open Analytics
From your Shopify admin, click Analytics. The page shows a set of metric cards, each giving a quick sum or value for one business indicator, such as Net sales by channel or Sessions by device type. From each card you can open the matching report for more detail.
2Open the reports list
On the Analytics page, click Reports. Then click the Category filter and click Sales to show only the sales reports.
3Open Total sales over time
Click Total sales over time. The report shows the number of orders and the total sales over time, as a graph above a table. Use the Group by drop-down menu to group the data by day.
4Set the date range
Set the date range to 3 to 9 November 2026. Use the comparison control to compare the week with the previous 7 days, so a high or low day is judged against the week before, not against nothing.
5Read gross, net and total
Read the three figures in order. Gross sales is product price times quantity, before taxes, shipping, discounts and sales reversals. Net sales is gross sales minus discounts minus sales reversals. Total sales is net sales plus taxes, duties, shipping charges and fees.
6Check what the figures leave out
Sales reports show the value of goods sold, not the cash received. A sale appears on the order date, and a reversal appears on the date it was processed. Chargebacks are not included in the sales reports.
7Export the report
Click Export to download the report as a CSV file for the bookkeeper. When you open a sales report, the data is up to date, give or take about 1 minute. Reopen or refresh the report to show newer data.
The arithmetic
| Day | Total sales | Orders |
|---|---|---|
| Tuesday 3 November | $412.50 | 14 |
| Wednesday 4 November | $388.00 | 12 |
| Thursday 5 November | $521.25 | 18 |
| Friday 6 November | $467.80 | 15 |
| Saturday 7 November | $690.10 | 22 |
| Sunday 8 November | $812.45 | 27 |
| Monday 9 November | $598.30 | 19 |
| Week total | $3,890.40 | 127 |
Average total sales per order is $3,890.40 divided by 127 orders, which is $30.63. Average sales per day are $3,890.40 divided by 7 days, which is $555.77.
Held at the counter
Sales are not cash received. The report shows the value of goods in the orders, not the money that has reached your bank. A customer can place an order today and the payment can arrive later, so do not read total sales as money in hand.
A renamed product can split across two lines. Reports capture the product details as they were at the time of the sale. If you rename a product between two orders, both the old title and the new title can appear in a report that covers both dates.
Reversals land on the processing date. A return processed on Monday shows as a negative value on Monday, even when the order was placed the week before. A week with many returns can look weak even when its orders were strong.
Sources
- Shopify analytics — Shopify's help pages: the Analytics dashboard, the metric cards, and the Reports page.
- Sales reports — Shopify's help pages: the Total sales over time report, the gross, net and total sales definitions, and the 1-minute freshness note.