How to Track Sales Performance
Overview
Why Track Sales Performance
- Monitor booked vs. realized revenue to identify payment and fulfillment bottlenecks
- Identify top and lagging products to optimize inventory and merchandising
- Evaluate promotion ROI and adjust marketing campaigns
- Make data-driven decisions on pricing, inventory, and ad spend
Use Magento's Sales, Products, and Customers reports (and Advanced Reporting if enabled) to monitor booked vs. realized revenue, identify top/lagging products, and evaluate promotions—so you can adjust inventory, pricing, and campaigns each week.
Prerequisites
Before you begin, make sure you have:
Admin Panel Access
Access to Magento Admin Panel
Product Catalog Setup
Product catalog setup
Cron Running
Cron is enabled and running (required for report aggregation and Advanced Reporting)
Reports Access
Your Admin role has access to Reports (System > Permissions > User Roles)
Store Timezone
Store Timezone is set (Stores > Configuration > General > Locale Options)
What You'll Accomplish
By following this guide, you will:
- Learn a repeatable process to track sales performance using Magento reports
- Improve your store's performance and customer experience
Step-by-Step Instructions
Confirm reporting scope and time range
Decide the revenue stage you will track (Orders for booked revenue, Invoices for realized revenue, or net of Refunds). Choose the store scope and period:
- Scope: Use the Scope selector in the Admin header (All Store Views, a specific Website, or Store View) so figures match your reporting needs.
- Time range: Choose a standard period (for example, Last 7 days or Last 30 days) to enable consistent comparisons.
Check the Dashboard for a quick health snapshot
Go to Admin sidebar > Dashboard. Use the Date Range selector (for example, Last 7 Days) and confirm the Scope (All Store Views or a specific Store View). Review the revenue and orders charts for the selected period to spot trends.
Act on it:
If revenue dips versus the prior period, adjust campaigns or on-site promotions. If orders spike, review inventory and fulfillment capacity.
Run the Sales Orders report (booked revenue trend)
Go to Reports > Sales > Orders, then:
- 1. Select Scope from the Admin header to match your reporting needs
- 2. Set From and To dates (for example, last 30 days)
- 3. Set Period to Day, Month, or Year (Week is not available in the native report)
- 4. Set Order Status to the statuses that represent valid booked orders for your workflow (for example, Pending/Processing/Complete; exclude Canceled and Closed if not relevant)
- 5. Click Show Report
- 6. Optional: Export > CSV for sharing
Some reports use aggregated data. If you recently received orders, go to Reports > Statistics and Refresh the relevant reports to include the latest data.
Act on it:
Use trends to adjust merchandising and ad budgets. For example, if booked revenue is rising in a category, feature those products and increase inventory.
Analyze realized revenue and refunds
- Go to Reports > Sales > Invoiced to view invoiced totals for the same Scope, date range, and Period
- Then go to Reports > Sales > Refunds for the same parameters to understand returns
- Record both for comparison with Orders
Some reports use aggregated data. If you recently invoiced or refunded orders, refresh the relevant statistics under Reports > Statistics.
Act on it:
If realized revenue lags booked revenue, review payment capture and fulfillment bottlenecks. If refunds are high, investigate root causes (quality, sizing, shipping damage) and update product pages or policies.
Evaluate product performance (winners and laggards)
- Go to Reports > Products > Ordered
- Set the same Scope, date range, and Period, then click Show Report
- Note the top 10 products by quantity and by revenue
- Check Reports > Products > Bestsellers to confirm consistency
If you recently received orders, refresh statistics under Reports > Statistics to include the latest data.
Act on it:
Reorder top sellers and feature them on the homepage/category pages. For laggards, improve images/descriptions, test price adjustments, or bundle with top sellers.
Assess promotion impact
- Go to Reports > Sales > Coupons
- Select the same Scope and date range, then click Show Report
- Review revenue, discount amounts, and uses per coupon
Act on it:
Calculate net lift = Revenue − Discount Amount − incremental Shipping/Handling. Pause codes with negative net lift; increase budget or visibility for high-ROI codes.
If data looks stale, refresh the Coupons statistics under Reports > Statistics.
Check shipping, tax, and cost drivers (optional)
- Run Reports > Sales > Shipping to identify carriers/methods driving the highest shipping spend relative to revenue
- Run Reports > Sales > Tax to review tax collected by rate/region
Product Cost is not included in these reports. For margin analysis, ensure the Cost attribute is maintained and use custom reporting or Advanced Reporting.
Act on it:
Promote lower-cost shipping methods when appropriate, negotiate carrier rates in high-cost regions, and validate tax settings for compliance.
Review customer activity (optional)
- Go to Reports > Customers > Orders to see orders by customer and average amounts
- Go to Reports > Customers > New to see new customer signups in the period
Act on it:
Identify high-value customers for loyalty offers and target new customers with onboarding or cross-sell campaigns.
Enable and use Advanced Reporting (if available)
Go to Stores > Configuration > General > Advanced Reporting. Set Enable to Yes and complete required fields (Industry and Time of day to send data). Ensure your store Timezone is set at Stores > Configuration > General > Locale Options. Save the configuration and ensure cron is running.
Prerequisites and timing:
- Your storefront base URL must be publicly accessible (no maintenance mode or HTTP authentication)
- HTTPS is recommended
- Initial data sync can take up to 24 hours after enabling and saving configuration
- Ensure at least one completed order exists for the selected scope
After the initial data sync, go to Reports > Advanced Reporting to view Sales, Customers, and Products dashboards with trend analyses.
Act on it:
Use these dashboards to spot multi-week trends and seasonality, then update inventory buys, pricing, and campaign plans.
Export and compute key KPIs for your weekly snapshot
Export Sales > Orders and Products > Ordered to CSV. In a spreadsheet, compute and document:
- AOV = 'Revenue' / 'Orders' (use the columns from the Sales > Orders report)
- Refund rate = 'Total Refunded' / 'Total Invoiced' (use Sales > Orders columns, or cross-reference Sales > Refunds and Sales > Invoiced)
- Top 10 products by quantity and by revenue
- Optional: Shipping cost % Revenue = (Shipping Amount / Revenue)
Weekly snapshot:
Include in your weekly snapshot: Orders, Revenue, AOV, Refund rate, Coupon ROI, and Shipping cost % Revenue. Share every Monday with Ops, Merch, and Marketing to set priorities.
Refresh statistics and set a reporting cadence
- Go to Reports > Statistics
- Select relevant reports and click Refresh or Refresh Lifetime Statistics
- Schedule a recurring calendar reminder (weekly) to rerun Steps 3–10 using the same Scope and filters
Verification
To confirm everything is working correctly:
-
Data Accuracy
- ✓ Cross-check total Orders count in Sales > Orders with the Orders grid for the same date range and statuses
- ✓ Reconcile 'Total Invoiced' with a sample of invoices in Sales > Invoices for the same period
- ✓ Confirm a known coupon code appears in Reports > Sales > Coupons with the expected Usage count
- ✓ Compare Dashboard revenue with Sales > Orders 'Revenue' for the same period and Scope
Common Issues and Solutions
Solution
- Refresh Reports > Statistics and ensure the correct Scope and date range are selected
- Ensure cron is running for report aggregation
- Check that orders exist for the selected time period and scope
Solution
- Verify orders actually used coupon codes and the selected statuses include those orders
- Refresh statistics under Reports > Statistics
- Ensure coupons are active and have been applied to orders in the reporting period
Solution
- Ensure cron is running
- Verify base URL is public and accessible (no maintenance mode or HTTP authentication)
- Wait up to 24 hours after enabling for initial data sync
Solution
- Align Scope, date range, and statuses; Dashboard uses its own filters
- Ensure both views are using the same time zone settings
- Refresh statistics and cache to ensure data is current
Solution
- Increase PHP memory limit in your server configuration
- Try exporting in smaller date ranges
- Check server error logs for timeout or memory issues
