How to Find the Best Selling Products on Shopify: A Step-by-Step Guide

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Discovering Best Sellers on Shopify
  3. Application: Using Best Sellers to Boost Your Strategy
  4. Conclusion
  5. FAQ

Introduction

Did you know that uncovering the best-selling products on Shopify can significantly impact your business strategy? This information isn't just a treasure trove for those looking to understand market trends and consumer preferences better; it's also a boon for Shopify store owners striving to optimize their product listings and drive more sales. However, identifying these top performers isn't always straightforward. In this blog post, we'll dive deep into how to effortlessly discover best-selling products on Shopify, leveraging both built-in features and strategic insights. By the end, you'll not only know which products are flying off the digital shelves but also how to apply this knowledge to refine your business strategy.

Why Focus on Best-Selling Products?

Identifying the best-selling products on Shopify or any e-commerce platform serves multiple purposes. It provides insights into current market trends, consumer preferences, and potentially lucrative niches. For store owners, it's a way to understand what works, enabling them to tailor their offerings to match customer demand more closely. Moreover, recognizing top-performing products can inspire marketing strategies, inventory decisions, and competitive analysis, fundamentally shaping the path to e-commerce success.

Discovering Best Sellers on Shopify

Shopify stores come equipped with a straightforward yet potent feature enabling both store owners and the curious to peek at the best sellers. This feature is the key to unlocking a wealth of data about which products have the highest appeal to customers.

The Shopify Best Selling Sort Feature

Each Shopify store organizes its offerings into collections, and Shopify provides a hidden capability to sort these collections by best-selling products. Accessing this sorted list isn't widely advertised, but it's incredibly simple:

  1. Understand the URL Manipulation: By appending ?sort_by=best-selling to the URL of any collection page, you instruct Shopify to reorder the products based on their sales volume, with the most popular items taking the lead.

  2. Use the Magic All Collection: To view the best sellers across the entire store, navigate to /collections/all?sort_by=best-selling. This crafts a comprehensive view of what's hot across all available products.

  3. Apply to Specific Collections: For more granular insights, apply the sort parameter to individual collection URLs to unearth the top sellers within specific categories or themes.

Beyond The Built-In: Strategic Observations

While the sorting feature provides a direct look at best-selling items, a strategic approach involves more than just seeing which products are at the top. Consider these additional angles:

  • Trend Analysis: Regularly checking the best sellers can help you spot rising trends or fading interests, allowing for dynamic inventory management.
  • Competitive Insights: Understanding what works for others, especially in a similar niche, can spark ideas for product diversification or marketing adjustments.
  • Customer Behavior: Often, best-selling products reveal much about consumer behavior, preferences, and purchasing patterns, which can be gold for tailoring marketing efforts.

Application: Using Best Sellers to Boost Your Strategy

Now that you know how to find the best-selling products on Shopify, here's how to leverage this information:

  1. Inventory Management: Stock more of what sells. This seems straightforward but requires a balance not to overstock or neglect potential.

  2. Marketing Focus: Highlight your best-selling items in marketing campaigns to appeal to proven customer interests. Use them as social proof in your promotions.

  3. New Product Development: Inspired by best sellers, consider developing complementary products or exploring variations to capitalize on proven demand.

  4. Price Optimization: Best sellers have market traction. Experimenting with their pricing could maximize profit margins without significantly affecting sales volume.

Conclusion

Understanding the best-selling products on Shopify is akin to having a roadmap for e-commerce success. It lays bare the preferences of your target market, guiding inventory, marketing, and strategy decisions with clear, actionable insights. Whether you're a seasoned Shopify store owner or just starting, embracing the power of best-seller data can be a game-changer, leading to more informed decisions, better customer engagement, and ultimately, increased sales.

FAQ

Q: Can you view best-selling products on any Shopify store? A: Yes, by applying the ?sort_by=best-selling parameter to the collection URL, you can view the best-selling products of any public Shopify store.

Q: How often should I check for best-selling products? A: Regular monitoring—such as bi-weekly or monthly—can help you stay on top of market trends and adjust your strategy accordingly.

Q: Can this strategy work for any e-commerce platform? A: While the specific URL manipulation is unique to Shopify, the concept of analyzing best sellers for market insights can apply across different e-commerce platforms.

Q: What if I don't want my competitors to see my best-selling products? A: Currently, Shopify does not offer a direct way to hide this information, but focusing on building a unique brand and offering can diminish the impact of competitors viewing your best sellers.