Short answer: Shopify Analytics shows clearly what you sell, but not what it costs you. Advertising spend from Google and Meta, purchase prices and fixed costs from your accounts are all missing. A good Shopify dashboard connects all of those sources once and then automatically shows your revenue, margin and advertising return side by side.
We know this from our own homeware store: every Monday, tabs open with Shopify, Google Ads, Meta, Klaviyo and the accounting software. Copying figures into a spreadsheet, stripping out VAT (21% in the Netherlands), and only then seeing whether the week had been good. In the end we built a dashboard that does it automatically. In this article you'll read what Shopify does and doesn't show, which options are available and what a good dashboard needs to offer.
What does Shopify Analytics show?
Shopify Analytics is strong on everything that happens inside your store: revenue, orders, sessions, conversion rate, average order value, best-sellers and returning customers. With ShopifyQL you can also build your own reports from that data. For insight into your sales, it's a fine starting point.
What's missing from Shopify Analytics?
Shopify doesn't know what you spend outside Shopify. As a result, the figures that determine whether you make a profit are missing:
- Advertising spend. What you spend on Google Ads, Meta or TikTok sits in those platforms, not in Shopify. Without that spend, there's no MER or POAS.
- Purchase prices. Shopify only calculates profit for products with a cost price filled in. With thousands of products or changing supplier prices, that's rarely complete.
- Fixed and variable costs. Shipping, payment provider fees, apps and software are recorded in your accounts.
- Email marketing. What Klaviyo or another email tool generates is visible in that tool, not alongside your advertising channels.
- Fair attribution. Each source counts by its own rules. Only when you put them side by side can you see where revenue is being claimed twice.
The result: Shopify shows you a good revenue day without telling you whether that day actually made money. You can read which figures you need for that in Webshop KPIs: the 12 metrics you should track.
What options are there for a Shopify dashboard?
| Option | How it works | Advantage | Disadvantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Analytics | Built-in reports | Free, available immediately | No advertising spend or accounting data |
| Spreadsheet | Export and paste weekly | Fully customisable | Takes hours a week, error-prone, never up to date |
| Looker Studio | Connect data sources yourself | Free tool, flexible | Shopify and Meta only via partner connectors, you build and maintain it yourself |
| Off-the-shelf analytics app | App from the Shopify App Store | Quick to install | Fixed set-up, often English-only, rarely connected to Dutch accounting software |
| Custom dashboard | Built around your sources and KPIs | Exactly your figures, including accounting | Requires a one-off set-up |
What should a good store dashboard offer?
After years of gathering figures for our own store, we arrived at six requirements:
- Connect once. No daily exports or logging in to each source. You connect Shopify, your ad accounts and your accounting software once.
- Automatically up to date. The figures refresh themselves, with a refresh button when you want to know right now.
- Excluding VAT. Revenue, margin and ROAS shown without VAT by default, so your numbers aren't 21 per cent too rosy.
- Revenue and costs side by side. Advertising spend, purchasing and fixed costs on the same screen as your revenue, with MER, POAS and contribution margin as the outcome.
- Accounting included. A connection to your accounting software shows where the money goes and where you can save.
- Clear at a glance. The five most important figures at a glance, with details only when you click through. On your phone too.
How does Ecommetrics work?
Ecommetrics isn't an app you install and have to set up yourself. We build the dashboard for your store: we connect your Shopify store, your advertising channels, your email marketing and your accounting. You then see your revenue, margins, ROAS, POAS, MER, CAC and CLV on one screen, updated automatically and excluding VAT. You can read exactly how those advertising metrics are calculated in Calculating ROAS, POAS and MER.
The idea came from our own store. The dashboard we built for ourselves saves us hours every week and showed us which channels genuinely generate profit. Now we're building it for other Dutch Shopify stores.
Frequently asked questions
Can I build a dashboard in Shopify itself?
Yes, with the built-in reports and ShopifyQL you can create your own sales overviews. However, you can't add advertising spend from Google or Meta or costs from your accounts.
Is Google Looker Studio suitable as a Shopify dashboard?
It can be, but Looker Studio has no native connection to Shopify or Meta. For that you need partner connectors from third-party providers, often on a subscription. You build and maintain the dashboard yourself, which takes technical knowledge and time.
Which metrics belong on a store dashboard?
At a minimum: net revenue excluding VAT, orders, conversion rate, average order value, contribution margin, advertising spend per channel, MER and ROAS. For growth, add CAC, CLV and returning customers.
Can I connect my accounting software to a Shopify dashboard?
With a custom dashboard, yes. Alongside your revenue, you then also see where your costs go, from shipping to software.
Curious what your store looks like on one screen? Ecommetrics builds the dashboard for you. Join the waiting list and we'll let you know first when we launch.