You find your best-selling products on Shopify in Analytics. Go to Analytics > Reports, open Total sales by product, set a date range, and sort by net quantity for units or net sales for revenue. For variants, profit, and restock priority, use the variant, profit, and ABC product analysis reports.
"Best seller" means different things depending on the question. Units sold tells you what to reorder. Revenue tells you what pays the bills. Gross profit tells you what is worth pushing. The storefront's Best selling sort counts something else again. Pick the measure first, then pick the report.
How do you find your best-selling products on Shopify?
You find your best-selling products on Shopify in the Analytics reports. From your Shopify admin, go to Analytics > Reports, filter the category to Sales, and open Total sales by product. Set the date range you care about, then rank the products by net quantity or net sales. Use the variant report for sizes and colors.
Match the report to the question:
- Which products sold the most units this month? Total sales by product, ranked by Net quantity.
- Which products brought in the most revenue? The same report, ranked by Net sales.
- Which size or color is the real winner? Total sales by product variant.
- Which products make the most money after cost? Gross profit by product.
- Which variants should I never run out of? ABC product analysis.
- Which products move through stock fastest? Products by sell-through rate.
Shopify Help on sales reports says report data is up to date, give or take about 1 minute. You can reopen or refresh the report to see newer orders.
How do you use the Total sales by product report?
You use the Total sales by product report by opening it from Analytics > Reports, setting the date range, and ranking products by Net quantity or Net sales. Net quantity is items sold minus items returned. The report leaves out shipping, because one shipping charge covers a whole order and cannot be split across products.
Steps:
- From your Shopify admin, go to Analytics > Reports.
- Click the Category filter and choose Sales.
- Open Total sales by product.
- Set the date range. Shopify Help on time ranges says some reports default to the past 30 days.
- Sort the data table by Net quantity for units or Net sales for revenue.
- Add a comparison period to see which products are rising or falling.
- Save it as a custom exploration if you will check the same view every week.
Read the numbers with three rules from Shopify Help in mind:
- Pending, unpaid, and canceled orders are included in sales reports. Test orders are not.
- Returns count against a product, so Net quantity and Net sales can drop after a return is processed.
- If you delete a product or variant, its data is removed from the reports. Archive a retired best seller instead of deleting it if you want its history.
How do you see best sellers by variant or SKU?
You see best sellers by variant or SKU with the Total sales by product variant report. It breaks sales down to each variant title and variant SKU, so a hoodie with five sizes shows five rows. For units per day and stock risk, add the Inventory sold daily by product and ABC product analysis reports from the Inventory category.
Product-level totals hide the detail that drives reorders. A tee can look like a top seller while one color does almost all of the selling. Shopify Help describes the variant report as the same breakdown at a more granular level, with Product title, Variant title, Variant SKU, and Net quantity.
Two inventory reports help once you know the winners. Shopify Help on inventory reports explains both:
- Inventory sold daily by product shows the average units sold per day for each variant. That number, set against your supplier lead time, tells you when to reorder.
- ABC product analysis grades each variant by its share of revenue over the last 28 days. A-grade variants together make up 80 percent of revenue, B-grade the next 15 percent, and C-grade the last 5 percent. The window cannot be changed, and cost does not affect the grade.
Help frames ABC as a restocking tool. Selling out of A-grade variants can cost you sales. Overstocking C-grade variants can tie up money in storage. Inventory metrics only go back to October 1, 2023.
What is the difference between best sellers by orders, units, revenue, and profit?
Best sellers by orders count how many orders include a product. Units count how many items sold. Revenue counts the money those items brought in. Profit counts what is left after product cost. The same catalog can rank four different ways, so decide whether you are restocking, promoting, or protecting margin before you trust one list.
How each measure shows up in Shopify:
- Orders: the storefront's Best selling collection sort. Shopify Help on collection sort order says it ranks by the all-time number of orders that include the product.
- Units: Net quantity in Total sales by product, for the date range you pick.
- Revenue: Net sales in the same report.
- Profit: the Gross profit by product report.
Profit takes one setup step. Shopify Help on profit reports says profit is reported only for products and variants that had a cost recorded when they sold. Add Cost per item in the Price section of each product, and edit each variant separately. Sales made before you entered cost will not show profit.
A quick test: if your units list and your profit list disagree, your top seller by volume may be discounted or low margin. Check it before you buy more ads or stock behind it.
How do you show best sellers on your Shopify storefront?
You show best sellers on your Shopify storefront by setting a collection's sort order to Best selling. Go to Products > Collections, open the collection, choose Best selling in the Default sort menu under Collection items, and click Save. Shopify ranks by all-time orders that include each product, not by recent sales.
Steps from Shopify Help:
- From your Shopify admin, go to Products > Collections.
- Click the collection you want to change.
- In the Collection items section, click the Default sort drop-down menu.
- Select Best selling.
- Click Save.
Things worth knowing before you rely on it:
- New collections sort by Most relevant by default, which Help says is based on sales performance. Best selling is a separate choice.
- If you have not sold any products yet, Best selling sorts newest to oldest.
- Because the count is all-time, a product that sold well two years ago can still sit at the top. If you want a "trending now" collection, pick the products from your last 30 days report and sort that collection manually.
Keep stock in mind too. A best-sellers collection that leads with a sold-out item sends shoppers to a dead end. Shopify Product Out of Stock covers what to do when a popular product runs out.
Can you see a competitor's best-selling products on Shopify?
You can often see the order a competitor's Shopify store ranks its best sellers by adding ?sort_by=best-selling to one of its collection URLs, such as /collections/all?sort_by=best-selling. That shows a rank, not sales numbers. It reflects all-time orders, and the store's theme or apps can change what you see.
Shopify's Liquid reference for the collection object lists best-selling as one of the collection sort values, alongside manual, title, price, and created date. That is why the parameter works on many storefronts.
Treat what you find as a hint, not data:
- You see a rank. You do not see units, revenue, or margin.
- All-time orders favor older products. A new product that is selling fast can sit low.
- A store may hide or filter products, or use its own merchandising.
- Competitor ranks do not replace your own reports. Your customers, prices, and traffic are different.
Use it to spot a product type or price point you have not tested. Then judge it with your own numbers.
Can you ask for your best sellers by text?
Yes. On Shoperator you can text Mark and ask what sold. Mark routes analysis to Marcus, who reads connected store data such as sales, orders, and inventory and answers in the same thread. The answer is a readout. Shoperator changes nothing in your store because you asked what sold.
A specific ask gets a useful answer:
- "What were my top 10 products by units sold in the last 30 days?"
- "Which variants of the classic hoodie sold best this month?"
- "Compare my best sellers this month with last month."
What Can I Text Mark? documents sales data, performance reports, and daily briefings by text. How to Run a Shopify Store by Text places "what sold" questions with Marcus.
What this is not: the readout does not reorder a collection, change a price, or restock anything. If you want to act on it, ask Mark for a preview of the change, and Mark applies it only after your yes. Shoperator does not send shopper email or SMS, and it does not pause, launch, or edit Meta or Google ads behind your best sellers. Shopify's own admin assistant, Sidekick, can also answer sales questions inside admin. See Shopify Sidekick vs AI Store Operator for how the two differ, and What Is an AI Shopify Store Operator? for the category.
FAQ
How do you find your best-selling products on Shopify?
You find your best-selling products on Shopify in the Analytics reports. From your Shopify admin, go to Analytics > Reports, filter the category to Sales, and open Total sales by product. Set the date range you care about, then rank the products by net quantity or net sales. Use the variant report for sizes and colors.
How do you use the Total sales by product report?
You use the Total sales by product report by opening it from Analytics > Reports, setting the date range, and ranking products by Net quantity or Net sales. Net quantity is items sold minus items returned. The report leaves out shipping, because one shipping charge covers a whole order and cannot be split across products.
How do you see best sellers by variant or SKU?
You see best sellers by variant or SKU with the Total sales by product variant report. It breaks sales down to each variant title and variant SKU, so a hoodie with five sizes shows five rows. For units per day and stock risk, add the Inventory sold daily by product and ABC product analysis reports from the Inventory category.
What is the difference between best sellers by orders, units, revenue, and profit?
Best sellers by orders count how many orders include a product. Units count how many items sold. Revenue counts the money those items brought in. Profit counts what is left after product cost. The same catalog can rank four different ways, so decide whether you are restocking, promoting, or protecting margin before you trust one list.
How do you show best sellers on your Shopify storefront?
You show best sellers on your Shopify storefront by setting a collection's sort order to Best selling. Go to Products > Collections, open the collection, choose Best selling in the Default sort menu under Collection items, and click Save. Shopify ranks by all-time orders that include each product, not by recent sales.
Can you see a competitor's best-selling products on Shopify?
You can often see the order a competitor's Shopify store ranks its best sellers by adding ?sort_by=best-selling to one of its collection URLs, such as /collections/all?sort_by=best-selling. That shows a rank, not sales numbers. It reflects all-time orders, and the store's theme or apps can change what you see.