What Is the Sales by Customer Report?
The Sales by Customer report groups your Shopify sales by the customer behind each order, based on the date the sale happened. For the period you choose, each row shows one customer's gross sales, net sales, and total sales, plus their name, email, and whether they were a first-time or returning buyer.
An order list hides the person. A customer who placed one large order and a customer who placed several small ones can look the same on a daily total but are worth very different things. This report separates that revenue by customer, and by splitting it into gross, net, and total, it also shows how much of each customer's spend survives discounts and returns.
Which Fields Are Included in the Sales by Customer Report?
You can add, remove, or rearrange columns to match how you review your customers.
Important Insights You Can Find in This Report
Which customers are worth less than they first appear?
Compare Gross Sales to Net Sales in each row. When net sales fall well below gross, that customer's orders carry heavy discounts or returns, so their real value is smaller than the headline. Check those accounts before treating them as top customers.
Who is actually driving your revenue this period?
Sort by Total Sales and see how much sits in the top few rows versus the long tail. If a small group carries most of the revenue, those relationships deserve priority. If it's spread evenly, retention has to work across the whole base, not just a VIP list.
Is your revenue coming from new or returning buyers?
Read Customer Type against Total Sales on your largest rows. First-time buyers at the top mean the period was carried by acquisition and may not repeat. Returning buyers mean retention is doing the work. That tells you where the next marketing dollar is safest.
THE ANALYST'S READ
Watch the gross-to-net gap on your returning customers. A returning buyer who ranks high on gross sales but drops sharply on net is likely a promotion-driven customer, not a loyal one, and discounting them further usually lowers net sales without building a habit. Check their order history before you build a VIP tier or win-back around them.
How Can You Automate the Sales by Customer Report?
Open the pre-made Sales by Customer template, confirm the columns, and save it. You can schedule it to email automatically on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis to yourself, your team, or your accountant. For output, export it as Excel, CSV, or PDF, or push it to Google Sheets or Google Drive.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does the Sales by Customer report show?
One row per customer for your chosen period, with that customer's gross, net, and total sales, their name and email, and whether they were first-time or returning.
What is the difference between gross, net, and total sales here?
Gross sales is product price times quantity before deductions. Net sales is gross minus discounts and returns. Total sales is net sales plus taxes and shipping. Reading all three per customer shows how much of their spend holds up.
What does Customer Type mean?
It marks each buyer as first-time (no earlier order) or returning (has ordered before), so you can tell whether a customer's revenue is new acquisition or repeat business.
How is this different from the Most Valuable Customers report?
Most Valuable Customers ranks buyers by total amount spent. Sales by Customer instead breaks each customer's revenue into gross, net, and total for a period and flags new versus returning, so you see revenue quality, not just a spend ranking.
Does this report use a date range?
Yes. It runs on the date the sale happened, so you set a period and see each customer's revenue within it.
Can I export or schedule it?
Yes. Export as Excel, CSV, or PDF, push to Google Sheets or Google Drive, and schedule automatic email delivery daily, weekly, or monthly.