What Is the COGS Report?
The Shopify COGS Report brings sales and product costs into one view, so you can review gross profit and gross margin alongside the revenue generated by orders. It helps you understand whether sales are translating into healthy margins rather than relying on total sales alone.
The premade report is grouped by Date and Order Name. For a chosen reporting period, you can trace cost and margin figures back to orders and review how profitability changes over time. The available fields are Date, Product/Item cost, Net Quantity, Cost, Gross Margin, Gross Profit, Total Sales, and Order Name.
Report Overview
- Report period
- Select the date range you want to review.
- Data included
- Eight fields covering date, order, quantity, cost, sales, gross profit, and margin.
- Best for
- Checking order-level profitability and spotting changes in gross margin over time.
- Export options
- Excel, CSV, TXT, or PDF as described in the report guide.
- Automation
- Schedule email delivery daily, weekly, or monthly.
What Can You Learn from Your COGS Data?
1. Which orders are profitable?
Compare Total Sales, Cost, and Gross Profit to find orders with strong or thin gross profit.
Example: Hypothetically, Two orders have similar sales, but one shows much lower gross profit.
What you can do: Review the lower-margin order before repeating the same pricing approach.
2. Is gross margin changing over time?
Use Date and Gross Margin to review whether the margin shown in the report is improving or slipping within your selected period.
Example: Hypothetically, Margin is lower in the second week than the first.
What you can do: Investigate cost or pricing changes affecting that period.
3. Are unit costs putting pressure on returns?
Review Product/Item cost with Net Quantity and Cost to understand the cost side of the recorded sales activity.
Example: Hypothetically, Item cost rises while sales stay about the same.
What you can do: Recheck purchasing costs and the selling prices of affected items.
4. Which transactions need a closer look?
Use Order Name to identify records with unusually low Gross Profit or Gross Margin and inspect those orders individually.
Example: Hypothetically, A single order has positive sales but very little reported gross profit.
What you can do: Open the order and verify its product costs and adjustments.
What Should You Check First in This Report?
Start with the measures that explain the gap between sales and gross profit.
- Total Sales versus Cost: Check whether product costs consume a high share of recorded sales.
- Gross Profit: Sort to find orders contributing little gross profit despite their sales value.
- Gross Margin: Compare periods consistently, using the same report settings and calculation basis.
- Order Name and Date: Trace unusual entries back to particular orders and days.
When Should You Use This Report?
| When to Use It | How It Helps |
|---|---|
| Reviewing weekly sales costs and gross profit | Check how sales, cost, and gross profit moved during the week. |
| Tracing reported costs and margins to orders | Use Order Name to trace reported cost and margin figures to transactions. |
| Investigating low-margin sales before a pricing review | Identify low-margin results that may warrant a closer pricing check. |
| Monitoring costs and net quantities over time | Compare cost and net quantity figures across selected dates. |
| Scheduling a margin-focused summary | Receive a repeatable margin-focused report by email. |
How to Create This Report in Data Export
The premade COGS Report has its main columns ready to review.
- Open Data Export and find the premade COGS Report.
- Open the report and review Date, Order Name, Total Sales, Cost, Gross Profit, and the other provided columns.
- Choose your reporting date range; adjust available fields, sorting, or filters if needed.
- Select Save to keep the report configuration.
- If useful, schedule an email export daily, weekly, or monthly for yourself or your team.
Make the Most of This Report
Use these checks to keep comparisons meaningful and your exports useful.
01 / CONSISTENCY
Compare like periods: Keep the same date-range length and report settings when reviewing changing margins.
02 / TRACEABILITY
Review outliers by order: Use Order Name to inspect unusually low gross profit rather than assuming every order follows the average.
03 / INTERPRETATION
Know the boundary: Gross profit here concerns the costs reflected in the report; do not treat it as final net profit after every business expense.
04 / DELIVERY
Choose a useful format: Export a PDF for a quick review or Excel/CSV when the recipient needs to sort and investigate rows.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does COGS mean in this report?
COGS means cost of goods sold. This report places recorded product cost and cost amounts next to sales, gross profit, and gross margin to support profitability reviews.
Can I see the profitability of a specific order?
The report includes Order Name and is grouped by Date and Order Name, allowing you to locate the corresponding transaction and review its reported profit and margin.
Does Gross Profit represent my final business profit?
No. Gross Profit in a COGS view is not the same as net profit after all operating expenses, marketing, payment charges, and other costs. Interpret the number using the report’s actual cost definitions.
Can I change the columns or focus on a shorter period?
Yes. The guide describes changing fields, sorting, filtering, and selecting a date range. Save the configuration that suits your review.
Can I export or schedule this report?
The supplied guide lists Excel, CSV, TXT, and PDF exports and daily, weekly, or monthly scheduled email delivery. Other destinations mentioned in the guide should be confirmed in your account settings.
