Can Shopify show profit by product after ad spend?

No. Shopify’s native Profit reports show gross profit and gross margin for each product and variant, based on the Cost per item field, but no report on any plan subtracts ad spend from Meta, Google, or TikTok. Profit after ad spend needs ad cost brought in from outside Shopify.

What Shopify shows natively

Go to Analytics > Reports, open the Category filter, and select Profit Margin. The category includes these reports:

• Gross profit by product: net quantity, net sales, cost, gross margin, and gross profit for each product.
• Gross profit by product variant: the same columns for each variant.
• Gross profit by POS location: the same columns for each point of sale location.
• Profit margin by order: margin per order, including product costs, shipping costs, duties, and import taxes paid by the store.
• Average profit margin by market: the same order-level metrics grouped by Shopify market.

Shopify calculates these with two formulas:

• Gross profit = Net sales − Cost
• Gross margin % = ((Net sales − Cost) ÷ Net sales) × 100

Discounts and refunds lower net sales, so the margin in these reports can be lower than the margin on the product page. For example, a $20 T-shirt that costs $10 shows a 50% margin on the product page. If it sells at $15 during a sale, the report shows about 33%.

If the Profit Margin category doesn’t appear in the Reports list, check Shopify’s current plan details or contact Shopify Support. Sidekick can also return gross profit by product or variant if costs are recorded, using a prompt such as “Show gross profit by product for the last 90 days.”

Check these before trusting the numbers

Cost must be recorded before the sale. Profit is only reported for products and variants that had a Cost per item at the time of sale. Adding a cost today fills future reports but does not fill in older periods.

Products without a cost are left out. Sales of products with no cost don’t appear in the profit reports. This is why net sales in the profit reports can be lower than net sales in the sales reports.

The cost doesn’t change over time. Cost per item is a single fixed value. If a supplier price changes, past periods still use the cost that was recorded when those orders were placed. For changing costs, Shopify suggests three options: an ERP or accounting system, a reporting app, or manual calculation.

The cost usually means purchase price only. Freight, duty, and inbound handling are not part of the field unless the store includes them in the number it enters.

Where Shopify stops

At the product level, Shopify only subtracts product cost. These costs are not deducted in any native product report:

• Ad spend: Meta, Google, TikTok, and other paid channels.
• Payment processing fees.
• App subscriptions.
• Marketplace commissions.
• Operating costs: rent, payroll, and software.

Shipping costs paid by the store appear in the order and market margin reports, but not in the product reports.

This means a product can look healthy in Shopify and still lose money. Here is an example for one month:

• Net sales: $5,000
• Cost: $2,000
• Gross profit: $3,000 (60% margin)
• Ad spend: $2,400
• Profit after ad spend: $600 (12% margin)

The formula is:

Profit after ad spend = Gross profit − Ad spend for that product

One detail affects every method. Ad platforms report spend by campaign, not by product. To get profit after ad spend for each product, the spend has to be divided across products. Two common ways:

• Product-specific campaigns: if a campaign promotes only one product, all of its spend goes to that product.
• Shared campaigns: if a campaign promotes several products, its spend is split by each product’s share of sales.

Ways to add ad spend

1. Google Sheets template (free). Export the Gross profit by product report as a CSV and paste it into a sheet with these columns:

• SKU
• Product name
• Units sold
• Net sales
• Cost
• Gross profit
• Gross margin %
• Allocated ad spend
• Profit after ad spend
• Margin after ad spend %

Enter ad spend by hand from each ad platform for the same date range. This works for a monthly check, but it takes more time as the catalog grows.

2. Reporting app with scheduled exports. This is where an app like Report Pundit fills the gap. Its Most Profitable Products template groups sales by product or SKU and does the following:

• Uses product cost from Shopify’s Cost per item field.
• Subtracts discounts and refunds.
• Splits results by sales channel.
• Schedules delivery to Google Sheets, Excel, or email, daily, weekly, or monthly.

Report Pundit also connects to ad platforms including Google Ads and Meta (Facebook and Instagram), so ad spend can appear in the same report as Shopify sales and cost. Integrations depend on the plan, and splitting spend across products still follows one of the allocation methods above.

3. Dedicated profit tracking tool. These tools connect Shopify and ad platforms continuously. They also subtract payment fees, shipping, and other costs. This route makes sense when profit after ad spend is checked every day rather than every month.

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