10 questions to ask your WooCommerce store data every Monday

Every Monday, ask your store how last week's net sales compared with the week before and the same week last year, which products led, what will run out within two weeks, which channels and coupons brought orders, how much was refunded, and whether repeat customers are drifting away. Ten questions cover it in about 20 minutes.

Each question below says why it matters, where to find the answer in WooCommerce, and whether Askshelf can answer it today. Nine of the ten it can, one only in part (profit stops at gross profit). The other needs WooCommerce's own screens, and we say so.

Before you start, set the period once: last week, Monday to Sunday, in your store's time zone. Use the same period for every question.

The ten questions at a glance

Sales: questions 1 and 2

1. How did net sales and orders compare with the week before? This is your heartbeat. Use net sales (after refunds and coupons, before tax and shipping) so a change in shipping charges doesn't fool you. Look at orders and average order value alongside: sales up on fewer, bigger orders is a different story from sales up on more orders.

2. How did that compare with the same week last year? Week-on-week numbers swing with paydays, holidays and weather. The same week last year tells you whether you're actually growing. If the store is under a year old, skip it and compare with the four-week average instead. The guide on comparing two date ranges explains how the compare option works.

Products and stock: questions 3 and 4

3. What were the top 10 products by units and by revenue? Units tell you what to pack and restock. Revenue tells you what earns. Watch for a product that jumps up the list; it's usually the one that runs out next. More on this in how to see your best-selling products.

4. Which products will run out in the next 14 days? Core WooCommerce shows current stock and low-stock warnings, but it doesn't forecast sell-out dates. You'd work it out by dividing stock by the daily sales rate. Fourteen days suits most suppliers; use your own lead time if it's longer. The method is in how to find products about to sell out.

Marketing: questions 5 and 6

5. Which channels brought orders? WooCommerce records where each order came from through order attribution, but Analytics has no channel report. Without a tool, you'd read the Origin column on the Orders list. Ask by source type for the broad picture (organic, direct, referral, UTM) and by UTM campaign if you ran an email or ad.

6. How did each coupon do? Analytics › Coupons shows orders and amount discounted per coupon. The question worth asking is whether the coupon brought orders you wouldn't otherwise have had, which you judge by comparing with a week without it.

Refunds and customers: questions 7 and 8

7. How much was refunded? Refunds appear as "Returns" in Analytics › Revenue, dated on the refund date, not the order date. A spike can mean a faulty batch or a misleading product page. Askshelf can give you the refund amount for the week; it can't tell you why customers refunded, so check the order notes for the reasons.

8. How many repeat customers have gone quiet? Pick a definition and keep it, for example "two or more orders, none in the last 90 days". If the count climbs week after week, your regulars are drifting. Askshelf gives the count only, without names. To see who they are, use the filters in WooCommerce › Customers.

Operations and profit: questions 9 and 10

9. Which orders need attention? Orders stuck in processing or on hold, failed payments and unanswered order notes. These live in WooCommerce › Orders, filtered by status. Askshelf can show today's orders, but it doesn't list stuck orders by status, so this one stays a manual check.

10. Did we make money? Revenue isn't profit. To answer this you need a cost for each product, plus shipping, payment fees and ad spend. If you've turned on WooCommerce's Cost of Goods Sold feature and entered costs, Askshelf can give you last week's gross profit and margin and compare it with the week before. It doesn't know shipping costs, payment fees or ad spend, so those are still yours to subtract. The WooCommerce profit reporting guide explains what else you need. Many owners do this monthly rather than weekly.

Turning answers into a routine

Write the answers down in the same place each week, even as a few lines in a notes file. After a month you'll see patterns no single report shows. If you share the numbers with a partner or team, the weekly WooCommerce reporting checklist gives a one-page format.

A useful rule: for each answer, note one action or "no action". If a question never leads to an action after two months, drop it and ask something else.

Askshelf is free for 10 questions a month, enough to try this routine for a week or to ask a few of these questions each month. Asking all nine of its questions every week needs a paid plan; see pricing. Askshelf also shows a free store snapshot at the top of its page and can email it every Monday, with no questions used. For where this routine fits in a wider approach, read using AI to analyze your WooCommerce store.