Enter your beginning inventory, purchases, and ending inventory to calculate your total COGS for any period.
COGS = Beginning Inventory + Purchases - Ending Inventory COGS represents the direct cost of products you actually sold during a period. It starts with what you had (beginning inventory), adds what you bought (purchases), and subtracts what is left (ending inventory). The difference is what was sold.
Aggregate COGS hides unprofitable products. Track costs at the SKU level to identify margin killers.
COGS should include product cost, inbound shipping, customs duties, and packaging — not just the supplier invoice.
Accurate COGS requires accurate inventory counts. Regular reconciliation prevents reporting errors.
StoreLyst tracks COGS per product automatically, calculates true profit margins on every order, and generates P&L reports — no spreadsheets required.
Learn about COGS Management →COGS (Cost of Goods Sold) is the total direct cost of products sold during a period. For ecommerce, this typically includes product cost from suppliers, inbound shipping, customs/duties, and packaging. It does not include marketing, salaries, or rent — those are operating expenses.
Without accurate COGS, you cannot know your true profit. Many Shopify merchants only look at revenue, but revenue minus COGS gives you gross profit — the real measure of whether your products are viable.
Shopify does not natively track COGS well. You can use the "Cost per item" field on products, but this does not flow into proper P&L reporting. Tools like StoreLyst automate COGS tracking and tie it to actual orders for real-time profit reporting.
COGS are direct costs tied to products sold (materials, manufacturing, supplier costs). Operating expenses are indirect costs of running the business (rent, salaries, marketing, software). Both reduce profit, but COGS is subtracted first to calculate gross profit.
StoreLyst manages COGS per product so you see real profit on every order.