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Shopify

Guide to connect Shopify, basic troubleshooting, find answers to common questions and view a list of all available metrics & dimensions

Sachi avatar
Written by Sachi
Updated today

Overview

Connecting your Shopify store to Polar Analytics is essential to activate your dashboards and begin tracking your ecommerce performance. Without this connection, Polar cannot ingest your sales, customer, and product data.

This article will walk you through:

  • Required permissions for connection

  • The setup process in Polar

  • Common Shopify data definitions

  • Troubleshooting syncing issues

  • How to interpret Shopify vs. Polar reporting differences

Prerequisites – What You’ll Need

Before connecting, ensure:

  • You have the correct admin permissions in Shopify (especially if you’re an agency or third-party partner)

  • Your Shopify store URL is in this format: storename.myshopify.com

  • You're logged into both your Shopify and Polar Analytics accounts during the setup

Shopify permission details here.

How to Connect Shopify to Polar

  1. In Polar, go to Connectors

  2. Locate Shopify and click “Configure”

  3. Enter your Shopify store’s domain (e.g., storename.myshopify.com)

  4. Authorize Polar via Shopify’s OAuth popup

  5. Wait for the initial data sync. This can take up to 24 hours depending on your store size. You’ll receive an email once your data is ready

Want to add multiple stores? Simply repeat the above steps for each one. Polar supports multi-store connections at no extra cost.

Shopify Terms & Definitions

Here’s how common Shopify metrics are defined in Polar:

  • Gross Sales = Product price × quantity before any adjustments

  • Discounts = Sum of line-item and order-level discounts

  • Returns = Value of refunded items

  • Net Sales = Gross Sales – Discounts – Returns

  • Shipping = Shipping charges minus shipping discounts and refunds

  • Tax & Duties = Based on orders, and included only if enabled at checkout

  • Total Sales = Net Sales + Tax + Duties + Shipping

Important note:
Gift cards are excluded from Shopify reports (they're treated as liabilities) but are included in Polar sales reporting for a more complete revenue picture, you can turn this on or off from the Data Settings page
​

You can see how a metric is calculated by hovering over the information icon, ⓘ.

Troubleshooting & Common Issues

Issue 1: “Data hasn’t synced after 24 hours”

  • Confirm you completed the OAuth step and that your store status is “connected” in the Connectors tab

  • Try re-authorizing the Shopify connector in Polar

  • If that doesn’t work, reach out to support with your workspace name and store URL

Issue 2: “Why don’t I see any metrics on my dashboard?”

  • Make sure your connector is set up and that the sync is complete

  • Check the date filters, ensure you’re viewing a date range where orders exist

  • Use the “Last 30 Days” or “All Time” range to verify

Issue 3: “The data in Polar doesn’t match Shopify exactly”

Why Data Might Look Different Between Shopify and Polar

It’s normal to notice slight differences between Shopify and Polar totals—especially around “Total Sales.” Here's why:

  • The Shopify Homepage includes tax and shipping in returns

  • The Shopify Analytics > Sales Reports exclude tax and shipping from returns

  • In Polar, returns include only the value of returned items, not tax or shipping

  • For an accurate comparison, use Shopify Analytics Sales Report and apply the filter: Sale Kind = 'order'

Metrics and Dimensions

To have access to the full list of available metrics and dimensions for Shopify, you can check using the Custom Table builder.

Available Metrics

RAW (taken directly from Shopify)

  • Avg time between orders (days)

  • Avg time between orders (hours)

  • Cost of Products (COGs)

  • Current Inventory Quantity (Snapshot)

  • Discounts

  • Expenses

  • Gross Sales

  • Net Product Quantity

  • New Cost of Products

  • New Customer Orders

  • New Customers

  • New Discounts

  • New Gross Sales

  • New Returns

  • New Shipping

  • New Shipping Pre Refunds

  • New Tax

  • New Tax Pre Refunds

  • New Tips

  • New Total Costs

  • Product Quantity

  • Repeat Cost of Products

  • Repeat Customer Orders

  • Repeat Customers

  • Repeat Discounts

  • Repeat Gross Sales

  • Repeat Returns

  • Repeat Shipping

  • Repeat Shipping Pre Refunds

  • Repeat Tax

  • Repeat Tax Pre Refunds

  • Repeat Tips

  • Repeat Total Costs

  • Returned Orders

  • Returned Product Quantity

  • Returns

  • Shipping

  • Shipping Pre Refunds

  • Shipping Refunds

  • Tax

  • Tax Pre Refunds

  • Tax Refunds

  • Tips

  • Total Costs

  • Total Customers

  • Total Orders

  • Total Refunds

  • 30 Day Cost of products

  • 30 Day Customers

  • 30 Day Discounts

  • 30 Day Gross Sales

  • 30 Day Orders

  • 30 Day Returns

  • 30 Day Shipping

  • 30 Day Tax

  • 30 Day Tips

  • 30 Day Total Costs

  • 60 Day Cost of products

  • 60 Day Customers

  • 60 Day Discounts

  • 60 Day Gross Sales

  • 60 Day Orders

  • 60 Day Returns

  • 60 Day Shipping

  • 60 Day Tax

  • 60 Day Tips

  • 60 Day Total Costs

  • 90 Day Cost of products

  • 90 Day Customers

  • 90 Day Discounts

  • 90 Day Gross Sales

  • 90 Day Orders

  • 90 Day Returns

  • 90 Day Shipping

  • 90 Day Tax

  • 90 Day Tips

  • 90 Day Total Costs

  • 180 Day Cost of products

  • 180 Day Customers

  • 180 Day Discounts

  • 180 Day Gross Sales

  • 180 Day Orders

  • 180 Day Returns

  • 180 Day Shipping

  • 180 Day Tax

  • 180 Day Tips

  • 180 Day Total Costs

  • 360 Day Cost of products

  • 360 Day Customers

  • 360 Day Discounts

  • 360 Day Gross Sales

  • 360 Day Orders

  • 360 Day Returns

  • 360 Day Shipping

  • 360 Day Tax

  • 360 Day Tips

  • 360 Day Total Costs

COMPUTED (calculated from raw metrics based on Shopify definitions)

  • Average Order Value

  • CM1

  • CM1 %

  • CM2

  • CM2 %

  • Gross Margin

  • Gross Margin (net of expenses)

  • Gross Profit

  • Gross Profit (net of expenses)

  • LTV

  • Net Profit

  • Net Sales

  • New Average Order Value

  • New Customer %

  • New Sales

  • New Sales %

  • Purchase Frequency

  • Repeat Average Order Value

  • Repeat Customer %

  • Repeat Sales

  • Repeat Sales %

  • Total Sales

  • 30 Day Gross Profit

  • 30 Day LTV

  • 30 Day Net Sales

  • 30 Day Total Sales

  • 60 Day Gross Profit

  • 60 Day LTV

  • 60 Day Net Sales

  • 60 Day Total Sales

  • 90 Day Gross Profit

  • 90 Day LTV

  • 90 Day Net Sales

  • 90 Day Total Sales

  • 180 Day Gross Profit

  • 180 Day LTV

  • 180 Day Net Sales

  • 180 Day Total Sales

  • 360 Day Gross Profit

  • 360 Day LTV

  • 360 Day Net Sales

  • 360 Day Total Sales

Legacy Metrics (these metrics have been removed from Shopify's API - users connected to Polar before April 1st, 2025 can still access historical data)

  • View Sessions (Legacy Shopify Plus)
    Purchase Sessions (Legacy Shopify Plus)

  • Cart Sessions (Legacy Shopify Plus)

  • Checkout Sessions (Legacy Shopify Plus)

  • Quantity Added To Cart (Legacy Shopify Plus)

Available Dimensions

  • App id

  • Billing city

  • Billing country

  • Billing country code

  • Billing province

  • Billing province code

  • Billing zip

  • Campaign

  • Campaign touchpoints

  • Cancel reason

  • Cancelled date

  • Cancelled timestamp

  • Channel

  • Channel touchpoints

  • Checkout token

  • Collection handle

  • Collection id

  • Collection template suffix

  • Collection title

  • Customer email

  • Customer first order date

  • Customer first order month

  • Customer first order product titles

  • Customer first order SKUs

  • Customer first order timestamp

  • Customer id

  • Customer lifespan in days

  • Customer lifetime duration

  • Customer locale

  • Customer name

  • Customer order number

  • Customer order segment

  • Customer tag

  • Customer total spent

  • Date

  • Days since first order

  • Device id

  • Expenses type

  • Financial status

  • Click look back window in days

  • First order ga campaign

  • First order ga medium

  • First order ga source

  • Fulfillment service

  • Fulfillment status

  • Inventory is tracked

  • Inventory item id

  • Inventory level id

  • Inventory location city

  • Inventory location country

  • Inventory location country code

  • Inventory location id

  • Inventory location province

  • Inventory location province code

  • Inventory location zip

  • Inventory management

  • Inventory policy

  • Is cancelled

  • Is gift card

  • Is order edit

  • Is paid channel

  • Is refund

  • Is shipping required

  • Is taxable

  • Klaviyo acquisition channel

  • Landing site base URL

  • Landing site ref

  • Months since first order

  • Note

  • Order discount code

  • Order discount code amount

  • Order discount code type

  • Order id

  • Order line items

  • Order line properties

  • Order number

  • Order status url

  • Order tag

  • Origin country code

  • Origin province code

  • Page collection id

  • Page detail

  • Page origin

  • Page path

  • Page product id

  • Page query

  • Page referrer

  • Page title

  • Page type

  • Payment gateway names

  • Pos location name

  • Presentment currency

  • Processed date

  • Processed timestamp

  • Processing method

  • Product id

  • Product image

  • Product status

  • Product tag

  • Product tags

  • Product title

  • Product titles in order

  • Product type

  • Purchase type

  • Reference

  • Referring site

  • Referring source

  • Refund id

  • Sales channel

  • Shipping city

  • Shipping country

  • Shipping country code

  • Shipping method

  • Shipping province

  • Shipping province code

  • Shipping zip

  • Sku

  • Skus in order

  • Source identifier

  • Store

  • Store currency

  • Taxes included

  • Timezone

  • Updated date

  • Updated timestamp

  • Url

  • Utm ad id

  • Utm campaign

  • Utm campaign id

  • Utm content

  • Utm medium

  • Utm source

  • Utm term

  • Variant id

  • Variant title

  • Vendor

FAQ

Can I connect more than one Shopify store?

  • Yes, you can connect to multiple stores in Polar at no extra cost.

Can I backfill historical Shopify data?

  • Yes. Upon first connection, Polar automatically backfills your store's data history as far as Shopify allows.

Does Polar support Shopify POS data?

  • Yes, orders placed through Shopify POS sync alongside online orders in your dashboards you can see a breakdown or filter by Sales Channel to see your POS orders.

How often does Polar sync Shopify data?

  • Depending on your plan Polar syncs Shopify data every 15 minutes. Learn more about this here: Data Syncs

What if my store is on a platform different from Shopify?

  • At this time we only work with Shopify and Amazon Seller Central.

    If you would like to request additional platforms our Product team would love to hear from you! Please visit our Feature Request board, and we will alert you if/when we add this platform to our integrations.

Will Polar affect the speed of my store?

  • No, Polar does not impact the speed of your store. We are only pulling data from the Shopify API and will never touch your storefront, theme, or ad accounts.

Can I filter my Shopify metrics by Metafields?

  • At this time, Polar does pull in Metafields so it is not possible to filter or break down Shopify metrics by Metafields. However, most Metafields can be found in tags, which Polar does enable you to filter by in Custom Reports.
    ​
    If you would like to request metafields our Product team would love to hear from you! Please visit our Feature Request board, and we will alert you if/when we add this dimension to Polar.

Can I use Polar if my store is headless?

  • Yes, Polar is fully compatible with headless stores.

Related Articles
How are my metrics calculated?
Troubleshooting Data Discrepancies between Shopify and Polar
How is LTV calculated in Polar?
What Shopify metrics are available in Polar?
What Blended Metrics are available in Polar?
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