Shopify Orders Count Analytics with a Spreadsheet

Orders Count is the number of distinct Shopify orders that contribute to a row or report group during the timeframe you choose.

How Shopify Orders Count is calculated

Orders Count = the number of distinct Shopify orders matching the row, timeframe, and filters

Each order is counted once no matter how many products, variants, or units it contains. That is the difference between Orders Count and the quantity metrics: one order holding twelve units counts as a single order and twelve units.

Why order counts change how you read revenue

Revenue alone never tells you how it was earned. A vendor doing $50,000 across 2,000 small orders is a completely different business from one doing $50,000 across 40 large ones: different shipping costs, different packing time, different support load, different risk if a few customers leave.

Orders Count supplies the missing half of that picture. Use it to:

Tell whether growth came from more orders or from larger orders
Find groups producing high fulfillment workload for modest revenue
Spot revenue that depends on a handful of orders, which is fragile
Give refund rates a denominator, so a percentage means something

Orders Count counts orders, not people. A repeat customer placing four orders contributes four, so use it to compare order volume rather than to size an audience.

The metric adapts to whatever the row represents. On a Products worksheet, it counts the orders containing each product. On a Customers worksheet, it counts orders associated with each customer. In a Pivot Table worksheet, it counts orders for each vendor, market, customer segment, or other selected breakdown.

Add Orders Count to a Shopify data worksheet

Open a supported Shopify data worksheet
Click ＋ Shopify data in the header row of an empty column, or choose Column > Add Shopify data… from the menu bar. The field picker opens
Click Sales & analytics in the list of sections on the left, or type the metric's name in the search box
Click Orders Count or Order Count, depending on the Shopify object. The metric's settings open with it already chosen under Which metric?
Under Over what time period?, choose All time, Fixed dates, Rolling period, Calendar year, or Calendar month
Under Limit which orders count, add any optional filters supported by the metric
Click Save Column

Filters turn this into a targeted count. Use them to answer questions such as how many orders came from a parent discount campaign, a fulfillment status, a B2B company, or a last-touch marketing source. To count orders by Shopify Market, use a Market breakdown in a Pivot Table worksheet or Time Series worksheet instead.

Compare order volume with a Pivot Table worksheet

Click the + at the end of the worksheet tabs, or choose Worksheet > Add worksheet…
Select Reporting worksheet, then click Continue
Select a ready-made Pivot Table report, or choose Blank pivot table, then click Continue
Choose the business dimension under Break down by
Add Orders Count under Metrics
Choose the timeframe under Time period
Click Create Worksheet

The builder creates its columns without filters. To count only some orders, add another column once the worksheet exists: click ＋ Analytics data in the header row of an empty column, choose Orders Count under Which metric?, pick the time period, add your filters under Limit which orders count, and click Save Column.

Add Net Sales beside it. On Market and customer segment rows, add Average Order Value too (rows that group products, such as one row per vendor, show N/A for it). Together these columns separate the groups that produce many small orders from the ones that produce fewer high-value orders, which usually deserve very different marketing and shipping treatment.

Track Orders Count over time

Orders Count is available in Time Series worksheets for store, vendor, product type, market, customer segment, and marketing channel reporting.

Click the + at the end of the worksheet tabs, select Reporting worksheet, and click Continue
Choose a Time Series report, or select Blank time series, then click Continue
Select the breakdown under Break down by, then choose Orders Count under Measure (with Store rows, select it under Metrics)
Under Time periods, choose By day, By week, By month, or By year, then choose how many periods to include next to for the last
Click Create Worksheet

The Store sales and orders by month report is a useful ready-made starting point. Watching order count and net sales move together, or apart, is the quickest way to see whether your average order size is growing or shrinking.

Orders Count is not quantity sold

An order containing several products counts once for the store, but it can contribute to several product or collection rows. Use Gross Quantity Sold or Net Quantity Sold when you need unit counts instead.