Shopify Launches Sidekick Reports: Turn Simple Questions Into Powerful Analytics

For many Shopify store owners, understanding performance data can be a challenge. Between learning new reporting tools, deciphering metrics, and digging through dashboards, it often takes more time than it should to get clear answers.

Shopify’s latest feature update aims to change that.

With Sidekick-powered analytics reports, merchants can now turn business questions into ready-made reports without writing code, running queries, or leaving the admin dashboard.

From Questions to Reports in Seconds

Instead of navigating through filters and datasets, merchants can now ask natural-language questions and get structured, data-rich answers.

For example:

• “Which products generate the highest average order value?”
• “What were my top-performing sales channels last month?”
• “How has my customer retention rate changed over time?”

Shopify interprets the question using ShopifyQL in the background, automatically generating a customizable report based on the request.

No Need to Learn ShopifyQL

ShopifyQL,  query language behind Shopify’s advanced reporting, has long been available to developers and analysts. But for many store owners, the learning curve made it inaccessible for day-to-day use.

This update brings that power directly to merchants, without the need to write queries. Reports are generated instantly based on intent, and can be refined or saved for further analysis.

What You Can Ask

The range of supported questions is already broad and continues to expand. Merchants can explore trends across:

Product Performance

• “What are my best-selling products this year?”
• “Which products have the highest return rate?”

Customer Insights

• “Who are my highest-value customers?”
• “How many new customers did I acquire last month?”

Sales and Revenue

• “What is my average order value by location?”
• “How have total sales changed since last quarter?”

Fulfillment and Operations

• “How long does it take to fulfill orders on average?”
• “Which shipping methods have the highest cost per order?”

Reports can include filters, date ranges, product types, customer segments, and other dimensions depending on the question asked.

Customizable and Actionable

Each generated report can be adjusted to fit specific needs. Merchants can:

• Modify filters (such as date range or product category)
• Change the type of chart or visualization
• Export data for presentations or team reporting
• Save reports for future access

This allows store owners to move beyond one-off answers and begin building a reporting workflow based on real-time business needs.