How to identify your best-performing products by revenue

Not all products contribute equally to your store's revenue. Typically, 20% of products generate 80% of sales—understanding which products fall into that vital 20% is crucial for strategic decisions about inventory, marketing, and merchandising. Yet many store owners treat all products similarly, giving equal prominence to revenue drivers and revenue drags. This undifferentiated approach wastes promotional resources on underperformers while underselling your stars that deserve maximum visibility and investment.

Identifying best-performing products systematically using data from Shopify, WooCommerce, or analytics platforms enables strategic resource allocation. You'll know which products to feature prominently, stock deeply, and market aggressively. You'll understand which items deserve product line extensions or variations. You'll recognize underperformers consuming resources without justification. This guide shows you practical techniques for ranking products by revenue performance and using those insights to optimize your catalog for maximum profitability.

Start with simple revenue ranking

The most straightforward product performance analysis is ranking by total revenue generated. Navigate to your platform's product reports—Products section in Shopify Analytics or Products tab in WooCommerce Reports. Sort by revenue to see which items generated the most sales during your selected period. Export this data to a spreadsheet where you can manipulate it further, calculating what percentage of total revenue each product represents.

Calculate cumulative revenue percentages to identify your vital few products. If Product A generated $50,000 of your $200,000 total revenue, it represents 25%. Product B generated $30,000 (15%). Together they're 40% of revenue from just two products. Continue down your list until you identify the minimum set of products accounting for 80% of revenue—these are your stars deserving disproportionate attention and resources.

This Pareto analysis typically reveals surprising concentration. Perhaps 10 products from your 200-item catalog generate 75% of revenue. Or maybe just 3 SKUs drive half your sales. These insights immediately clarify strategic priorities—ensure these critical products never stock out, feature them prominently in marketing, optimize their product pages, and consider expanding successful lines. Meanwhile, question whether carrying 190 products that together generate only 25% of revenue is strategically sound.

Analyze revenue per session to find hidden gems

Total revenue ranking favors high-traffic products but might miss efficient converters with less traffic. Calculate revenue per product page view or revenue per session for each item by dividing product revenue by page views. Perhaps Product X generated $10,000 from 1,000 views ($10 per view) while Product Y generated $15,000 from 5,000 views ($3 per view). Product X is more efficient despite lower absolute revenue—it just needs more traffic to shine.

Products with high revenue efficiency but lower traffic represent growth opportunities. They convert well when people find them but aren't getting sufficient exposure. Feature these items more prominently on your homepage, include them in email campaigns, run targeted ads promoting them, or optimize their SEO to increase organic traffic. Small traffic increases to high-efficiency products can generate substantial revenue gains.

Compare revenue efficiency across products to identify underperformers consuming valuable traffic without generating proportional returns. Perhaps certain items get 2,000 views but only generate $1,000 revenue ($0.50 per view)—far below your $5 per view average. These traffic sinks might need better product pages, competitive pricing, or potentially removal from prominent placement to redirect traffic toward more efficient converters that deliver better ROI on visibility.

Consider profit margins, not just revenue

Revenue rankings can mislead if products have vastly different margins. Perhaps your top revenue product generates $50,000 sales but has 15% margins ($7,500 profit) due to high costs and aggressive pricing. Another product generates $30,000 revenue with 60% margins ($18,000 profit). The second product contributes more to your bottom line despite ranking lower by revenue. Profit-focused analysis reveals true value contribution.

Calculate contribution margin—revenue minus direct costs—for each product if you have cost data. Rank by contribution margin rather than revenue to identify products that actually fund your business operations. This profit-centric view might completely reorder your product priorities compared to revenue-only rankings. Products that seemed like stars might be revealed as merely busy sellers that don't contribute meaningful profit worth the effort they require.

Factors beyond revenue to consider in product performance:

• Gross margin: Percentage of revenue remaining after product costs, revealing which items are most profitable per dollar of sales.

• Return rate: Products with high returns destroy margins through restocking costs and refund processing even if initial revenue looks good.

• Inventory turnover: Fast-turning products generate returns on invested capital more efficiently than slow movers even at lower margins.

• Support burden: Items requiring extensive customer service consume resources that reduce net profitability despite revenue generation.

Segment performance by time period

Product performance changes over time—yesterday's stars become tomorrow's dogs as markets evolve. Analyze product revenue across multiple time periods to identify trends. Perhaps certain items show consistent strong performance while others are declining. Some might be emerging stars showing accelerating growth despite not yet ranking among top revenue generators. These temporal patterns reveal which products are on the way up versus down.

Compare current period performance to same period last year to identify growth leaders. Perhaps Product A generated $10,000 last Q4 and $18,000 this Q4—80% year-over-year growth. Product B did $25,000 last year and $26,000 this year—only 4% growth. Despite Product B generating more absolute revenue, Product A shows superior momentum and might deserve more strategic attention as an emerging star worth nurturing and accelerating.

Calculate revenue growth rates for each product to rank by momentum rather than just current size. High-growth products represent your future best performers even if they haven't reached that status yet. Invest in accelerating their growth—increased inventory, prominent placement, marketing focus. Meanwhile, declining products might still generate substantial revenue today but are trends heading wrong—consider whether to try reversing decline or accepting obsolescence and planning transitions.

Analyze seasonal patterns in product performance

Many products show seasonal performance variations that affect which items are "best" at different times. Winter apparel obviously performs differently in December versus June. Gift items peak around holidays. Some products show no seasonality—consistent performers year-round. Understanding these patterns helps you feature the right products at the right times rather than promoting off-season items or under-promoting items naturally entering peak demand.

Calculate seasonal indices for major products showing what percentage of annual revenue they typically generate each month. Perhaps Product X does 40% of annual revenue in Q4, only 10% in Q1. Knowing this pattern, you adjust inventory builds, marketing timing, and homepage prominence by season. You don't waste summer homepage space on winter-peaking products. You ensure adequate inventory for predictable seasonal surges in demand for seasonal stars.

Use seasonal understanding to identify products suitable for counter-seasonal promotions that smooth demand. Perhaps certain items show flexibility to sell across seasons with appropriate marketing. Running aggressive summer promotions for typically fall items might generate off-season revenue from price-sensitive customers willing to buy early. This counter-seasonal strategy moderates the peaks and valleys in your overall business by strategically shifting some demand from congested peak periods to underutilized slow periods.

Using product performance insights strategically

Once you've identified best performers, leverage these insights across your business. Feature top products prominently on your homepage—they're proven converters that drive revenue. Ensure you maintain deep inventory on stars—stock-outs of your best products are the most costly. Allocate marketing budget toward proven performers rather than spreading evenly across all products. Include top items in every email campaign and paid advertising since they have demonstrated appeal.

Consider product line extensions for your stars. If a specific color or style drives most revenue, add variations in similar styles or complementary colors. If certain features make products successful, develop additional items emphasizing those features. Your best performers reveal what customers want—give them more of what's working rather than constantly chasing unproven concepts. This follow-the-winners strategy concentrates development resources on validated demand rather than speculative experiments.

Make tough decisions about underperformers. Products consistently ranking at the bottom of revenue while consuming inventory investment and catalog complexity might not justify their existence. Consider discontinuing lowest performers and redirecting those resources toward expanding successful lines. This portfolio pruning focuses your business on what works, simplifying operations while typically improving overall profitability through better resource concentration.

Creating a regular product performance review routine

Product performance isn't static—establish regular reviews to maintain current understanding. Perhaps monthly you rank products by revenue and flag significant changes from previous rankings. Quarterly you analyze margins, growth rates, and seasonal patterns to identify strategic priorities. Annually you conduct comprehensive portfolio reviews determining which products to discontinue, which to expand, and which to maintain at current levels.

Create a simple dashboard or spreadsheet showing your top 20 products by revenue with their margins, growth rates, and key metrics. Update monthly and review for trends. Perhaps certain items consistently climb rankings—emerging stars. Others gradually decline—fading products needing intervention or retirement. This regular monitoring catches changes early when you can still act strategically rather than discovering major shifts months after they occurred.

Document decisions and results in a product strategy log. When you decide to discontinue a product, note why and what happens to revenue. When you expand a successful line, track whether extensions deliver expected returns. This learning history helps you improve portfolio management over time by understanding what product decisions worked versus which didn't deliver anticipated results despite seeming strategic at the time.

Product performance analysis framework:

• Rank products by total revenue to identify your top performers generating most sales.

• Calculate revenue per view to find high-efficiency products needing more traffic.

• Consider margins to ensure focusing on items that contribute most to profitability.

• Track growth rates over time to identify emerging stars versus declining products.

• Account for seasonality to feature right products at right times throughout the year.

Identifying best-performing products by revenue requires systematic analysis using data from your e-commerce platform. By ranking products by total revenue, calculating revenue efficiency, considering profit margins, analyzing growth trends, understanding seasonal patterns, and conducting regular portfolio reviews, you gain clear understanding of which products deserve maximum attention and resources versus which underperform relative to the effort they consume. This knowledge enables strategic decisions about inventory investment, marketing focus, product development, and catalog optimization that concentrate resources on proven winners rather than spreading them evenly across all items regardless of performance. Ready to identify your revenue stars automatically? Try Peasy for free at peasy.nu and get instant product performance insights that show which items drive your business and deserve your focus.