Product Profitability Analysis
Actionbook reads your Shopify admin with your login and works out what each product really earned over the last 90 days: revenue, refunds, cost, fees, shipping, profit and margin, and which products sell well but barely make money.
Built for
- Shopify store owners checking which products make money
- Ecommerce operators closing the month by product
- Founders deciding what to reorder, reprice or drop
Key insights
- Revenue against margin for every product, thin margins marked
- Gross profit and margin by week for the top products
- Where each sale goes: cost, fees, shipping, refunds and profit
- Products sold without a cost entered, kept out of the totals
- Every product’s numbers in one table you can filter
What is the product profitability analysis?
Product profitability analysis shows how much profit each product makes after its own costs are taken out, so you can see which products carry the store and which only look busy. Actionbook reads your Shopify orders, refunds, cost per item, payment fees and shipping labels in your browser, then works out revenue, direct cost, gross profit and margin for every product. Shopify’s own profit report subtracts the cost per item you entered; this also counts refunds, payment fees and shipping. It is a product margin analysis, not a full P&L: rent, salaries and ad spend that no product owns stay out, so the result is called gross profit, never net profit. Products with no cost entered are listed apart instead of counted as pure profit.
How to do a product profitability analysis
A product profitability analysis takes five steps. The dashboard above follows them.
1. Write down what counts as cost
Decide which costs belong to a product: cost per item, payment fees, shipping labels and refunds. Leave costs no product owns, like rent, out of this view.
2. Pull sales and costs for one period
Use the same date range for every number. The last 90 days is long enough to smooth out one big order.
3. Work out profit and margin for each product
Profit is net revenue minus direct cost. Margin is that profit divided by net revenue.
4. Set the gaps aside
A product with no cost entered would show a 100% margin. List those rows on their own until the cost is filled in.
5. Compare sales with margin
Rank products by revenue and look at margin beside it. A best seller with a thin margin is the first one to fix.
Who the product profitability analysis is for
Shopify store owners
You know your best sellers by revenue but not by profit, and Shopify’s report leaves out fees and refunds.
- Profit and margin for every product
- Best sellers with thin margins
- Products missing a cost
Ecommerce operators and finance leads
You close each month and need the same product numbers every time.
- One cost definition, written down
- Weekly trend for the top products
- Rows you can filter and check
Founders deciding what to stock
You are choosing what to reorder, reprice or drop.
- Revenue and margin side by side
- Which products pull the margin down
- The rows behind every number
How the product profitability analysis works
Step 1: Click Build with Actionbook and pick the period
The last 90 days by default. Ask for a month, a quarter or the full year instead.
Step 2: Stay signed in to Shopify
Actionbook reads your orders, products and payouts in your browser. It doesn’t edit products, prices or orders.
Step 3: Fill in missing costs and run it again
Products without a cost appear in their own list. Add the cost in Shopify and the next run counts them.
Product profitability analysis FAQ
What is product profitability analysis?
Working out how much profit each product makes after its own costs: what it sold for, minus refunds, cost per item, payment fees and shipping. It shows which products earn the money, not just which sell the most.
What is a product margin analysis?
Comparing products by margin, the share of each sale you keep as profit, instead of by revenue. A product with half the sales can earn more if its margin is twice as high.
Is this gross profit or net profit?
Gross profit. It counts the costs that belong to each product. Rent, salaries, apps and ad spend that no single product owns are left out, so it never calls the result net profit.
How is this different from Shopify’s profit report?
Shopify’s report subtracts the cost per item you entered. This also takes off refunds, payment fees and shipping labels, and lists the products that have no cost entered.
What happens to products with no cost?
They’re shown in their own list and left out of the profit totals. Counting them would show a 100% margin that isn’t real.
Can it show profit by project or client?
Only when each sale and cost is already tagged with a project or client. It won’t split shared costs across projects with a guess.
Does it work with Amazon or WooCommerce?
The example reads Shopify. Ask for Amazon Seller Central or WooCommerce in the chat and it reads their order and fee reports the same way, with your login.
Does it change anything in my store?
No. It only reads orders, products and payouts. It doesn’t edit prices, products or orders.
