Shopify ABC Analysis: Grade Products and Act on Each Grade
Shopify’s ABC analysis grades every product variant by its share of your revenue over the last 28 days: A for the variants that together make about 80% of revenue, B for the next 15%, C for the last 5%. It’s a report in your admin, ABC analysis by product, available above the Basic plan. The grades tell you where stock-outs cost the most and where stock ties up cash.
Grades, strategies and report details come from Shopify’s Help Center pages on ABC inventory analysis and inventory reports, read on October 23, 2026.
What A, B and C mean
| Grade | Share of revenue | What it means for stock |
|---|---|---|
| A | The top variants that together make about 80% | Running out costs sales |
| B | The next 15% | Steady sellers; some move up to A or down to C |
| C | The last 5% | Slow movers that can tie up cash and warehouse space |
The method follows the 80/20 rule, the observation that a small share of products often brings most of the revenue. Two details of Shopify’s calculation matter when you read it:
- Revenue is counted at the retail price, excluding discounts, and the item’s cost plays no part. A high-revenue variant with a thin margin can still be an A.
- No, the window is fixed at the last 28 days and updates daily. A seasonal product can drop from A to C a month after its season ends.
Find the report
Open Analytics > Reports and look for ABC analysis by product among the inventory reports. Each row shows the product and variant title, the variant SKU, the Product grade, the Ending quantity, and the stock value at cost and at price. On the Basic plan the report isn’t included; Shopify suggests a reporting app from the App Store instead.
One change to know when you compare old and new exports: from October 1, 2026, Shopify’s inventory reports count stock as On hand instead of Available. On hand includes committed and unavailable units, so quantities can read higher than before, and data before that date still shows Available.
What to do with each grade
Shopify’s suggested strategies, with how we’d apply them:
A-grade
- Keep them in stock at all times, with backup stock, and reorder well before you expect to run out.
- Protect the stock from damage and theft.
- Give them the most space in marketing.
In practice, this is the list to check first every week: an A variant with low days of inventory remaining is the most urgent reorder in the store.
B-grade
- Keep them in stock, with new stock arriving shortly before you run out.
- Promote them as bundles or add-ons to A products; Shopify bundles covers the setup.
- Watch which ones move to A or C, and switch to that grade’s strategy when they do.
C-grade
- Sell remaining stock at a discount and remove the product once it sells out.
- Give units away free with other purchases, or donate them.
- Order less often, or just in time, or stop reordering unless the product serves another purpose.
Shopify notes that C products still bring some sales, and that letting them sell out can disappoint customers who wanted them. So before dropping one, check whether it’s a C because it’s new, seasonal or rarely needed but valued, like a spare part. For a clearance on many C products at once, our Bulk Product Edit app schedules the markdown and reverts it when the sale ends (scheduling is on its paid plans); the steps are in seasonal markdowns on Shopify.
Read it with sell-through
A grade measures a variant’s share of revenue. How fast its stock moves comes from two other reports:
- Products by sell-through rate: the share of available stock sold in the period, calculated as items sold divided by items sold plus items still in stock.
- Inventory remaining per product: days of inventory remaining for each variant at its recent selling rate (shown as N/A when there were no sales in the period).
Read together, they separate the cases: an A with low days remaining needs a reorder now; an A with high days remaining is selling well but overstocked; a C with low sell-through and many days remaining is the clearest candidate for clearance. For forecasting how much to reorder, see inventory forecasting; for price tips on slow and fast movers, Smart Pricing markdowns. More catalog guides are in the inventory and catalog hub.
FAQ
How does Shopify calculate ABC grades? Each variant gets a grade by its share of revenue over the last 28 days, at retail price excluding discounts: A for the top 80% of revenue, B for the next 15%, C for the last 5%. Cost isn’t included.
Which Shopify plans include the ABC analysis report? The report is in the admin on plans above Basic. On the Basic plan, Shopify suggests a reporting app with ABC analysis from the App Store.
Can I change the ABC report’s time period? No, the window is fixed at the last 28 days and updates daily.
Should I stop selling C-grade products? Shopify suggests clearing and removing many C products, but also notes they still bring sales. Check whether a C product is new, seasonal or a valued spare part before dropping it.