Shopify Product Variant Analytics

Product variant analytics show how each size, color, material, or other Shopify option performs on its own. With Mixtable, every variant gets its own spreadsheet row beside sales, quantity, refund, cost, profit, margin, price, and inventory data.

Why product totals hide your real problems

Reporting at the product level averages your variants together, and averages are where inventory problems go to hide. A jacket that looks like a solid performer can be one size selling out every week and three sizes that have never moved, sitting on shelves and tying up cash.

Variant-level reporting makes those differences visible. Use it to:

• Reorder the sizes and colors that actually sell, in the proportions they sell in
• Find slow variants worth discounting, bundling, or discontinuing
• Catch a single variant driving a product’s refund rate, which often points to something specific to that size or color
• Compare margin by variant, since cost often differs between options
• Check demand against inventory on hand before committing to a purchase order

You can start from a ready-made variant report or add analytics columns to an existing Products (with variants) worksheet.

Start with the Variant margin & inventory report

The Variant margin & inventory report is the fastest way to compare variant performance with operational Shopify data.

1. Install Mixtable Analytics Spreadsheet and open your spreadsheet
2. Click the + button beside the worksheet tabs
3. Select Reporting worksheet, then click Continue
4. Under Shopify data worksheet with analytics columns, select Variant margin & inventory, then click Continue
5. Review the Shopify object, columns, analytics metrics, and row settings
6. Click Create Worksheet

The ready-made report starts with useful Shopify variant fields such as:

• Product title
• SKU
• Price
• Cost Per Item
• Total Inventory

It also includes these analytics columns:

• Amount of Cost of Goods Sold
• Gross Profit
• % Gross Margin
• Net Sales
• Net Quantity Sold

Reading units sold against units in stock is what makes this report useful for buying: a variant with high Net Quantity Sold and low Total Inventory needs reordering now, while the reverse is money sitting still.

Note: Profit, margin, and cost-of-goods-sold metrics require a Cost Per Item value for the variant.

Add analytics to an existing variant worksheet

Use this method when you already have a Products (with variants) worksheet and want performance metrics beside editable Shopify fields.

1. Open a Products (with variants) worksheet, then select an empty column or insert a new one. Empty columns have a non-green header; a green header means the column is already linked to Shopify data

2. Click the button in the column header

3. Choose Analytics

   

4. Under Which metric?, select the metric you want to calculate

5. Under Over what time period?, choose All time, Fixed dates, Rolling period, Calendar year, or Calendar month

6. Under Limit which orders count, add any optional filters supported by the metric

7. Click Save Column

Repeat these steps to add more analytics columns. Useful variant metrics include:

• Net Sales and Gross Sales
• Net Quantity Sold, Gross Quantity Sold, and Refunded Quantity
• Orders Count
• Total Discount Amount
• Total Refund Amount Excluding Tax and Refund Count
• Orders Net Profit, Gross Profit, % Gross Margin, and Amount of Cost of Goods Sold

The filters offered under Limit which orders count depend on the metric. Common choices include customer segment, customer’s country, discount code, fulfillment status, order source, and marketing attribution values.

Use the Product Variant Sales Metrics template

For a ready-made spreadsheet focused on lifetime sales rather than price, cost, and inventory, create a spreadsheet from the Product Variant Sales Metrics template. It includes product and variant identifiers with order count, quantities sold, refunds, discounts, and Net Sales. See Product Variant Sales Metrics Template for the full column list.

Tips for comparing variants

• Use the same timeframe in every analytics column, or the comparison is meaningless
• Keep SKU, variant option values, price, cost, and inventory visible beside the metrics
• Sort by Net Sales or Net Quantity Sold to find your leading variants
• Check Refunded Quantity before you call a high-sales variant a strong performer
• Confirm Cost Per Item is filled in before relying on any profit or margin figure