3 Best Ways to Track Profit on WooCommerce
Updated January 30, 2023.
The success of your WooCommerce store depends on your ability to track sales and earnings. It only takes doing a few transactions to become proficient and competent enough to track your sales on your own. However, as your site grows, you can anticipate stocking more items at a wider range of prices. As a result, you can expect higher costs and greater difficulty in overseeing your business's finances.
Thankfully, there are numerous straightforward ways to track your WooCommerce profits, and these are the best of the best.
Top 3 WooCommerce Tracking Methods
Manual
Plugins
BeProfit
Track Profit
✓
✓
✓
Analysis report
X
✓
✓
Automated
X
X
✓
1. Calculate Your WooCommerce Profit Manually
So, how do you monitor expenses and profits? Track your WooCommerce profits manually! Here's a quick step-by-step guide on how to do this:
- Choose the timeframe for profit tracking: Most businesses track this over a fiscal year. If you're starting out, do this over 1, 3, or 6 months.
- Calculate your business's total product or service sales: It is important for you to know how many products or services your business has sold over the chosen period.
- Calculate the cost of goods sold (COGS): This is the amount spent buying a product from a supplier.
- Calculate your gross WooCommerce profit margin: Your cost price minus retail price is this amount. If a product costs $20 and sells for $50, your gross profit margin is $30.
- Calculate your expenses: These are shipping, advertising, and other product sales costs.
- Calculate your net profit margin: This is what your business keeps after COGS and other expenses. Calculate it by subtracting expenses from the gross profit margin.
Advantages of Manually Tracking Profit Margin
- You will become familiar with metrics such as COGS, gross margins, and profit margins.
- This method is entirely cost-free.
- There are some excellent templates and e-commerce profit calculators that will make these calculations significantly simpler.
Disadvantages of Manually Tracking Profit Margin
- This method can become complicated and time-consuming as your business expands.
- As sales increase, it's easy to lose track of profits and expenses.
2. Use WooCommerce Plugins That Calculate Profit Automatically
Several plugins, both free and paid, can automate the tracking of your business's profits and generate a comprehensive WooCommerce revenue report on demand.
Plugins such as these produce WooCommerce profit of sales reports, making it super easy to track your business’s expenses and profits.
Advantages of Using a WooCommerce Plugin to Track Profit Margin
- Automated
- Cost-effective
- Time-saving
Disadvantages of Using a Woocommerce Plugin to Track Profit Margin
- A third party may have access to your business’s financial metrics.
» Curious to know more? See which 3 profit analysis plugins our experts recommend
3. Use BeProfit’s Profit Tracker App
Another great way to track your business profits is with BeProfit’s Profit calculator app. Our profit calculator provides you with the data you need to create a powerful business strategy that will help you improve your profits.
It does this by utilizing an innovative analysis to gain deeper insights into customer lifetime value (LTV) and your business’s overall marketing performance. The tool uses Urchin Tracking Module (UTM) attributions to understand the return on ad spending and conversion rate per platform using Google Analytics. These metrics can then be leveraged to identify the best-selling and most profitable products within your store.
The BeProfit tracker app can easily be installed with just a few clicks, and it works with not just WooCommerce, but also Wix and Shopify. BeProfit’s Profit analysis platform makes it easier than ever to keep track of your store’s performance so you can stay right on top of things.
Are you still trying to decide which platform is best for you? If so, read our WooCommerce vs. Shopify post to make your decision easier.
Which Profit Tracking Method Is the Best for You?
If you're new to e-commerce or running your own business, it's never a bad idea to learn how to manually track your profits, especially while the number of customer orders and business transactions your online store is engaging in is still relatively manageable.
Alternatively, if your business is more established and you have a slightly larger budget, why not try one of the automated options? This plugin simplifies your life as a business owner by allowing you to track your profits and other vital financial metrics in a single location.
If you’d like to see more on e-commerce finances, visit our gross profit vs. operating profit post for more insights.
