How to Create a Quarterly Sales Report in Google Analytics

Building a quarterly sales report manually can feel like a chore, but inside Google Analytics is all the data you need to understand performance and plan your next big move. This guide will walk you through creating a comprehensive quarterly sales report directly in Google Analytics 4. We'll cover which metrics to track, how to build your report from scratch, and ways to add crucial context to your data.

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First Things First: Is E-commerce Tracking Enabled?

You can't report on sales if you aren't tracking them. Before you go any further, you need to make sure e-commerce tracking is properly configured in your GA4 property. If this is already done, feel free to skip to the next section. If not, this is a non-negotiable first step.

Without e-commerce tracking, GA4 won't collect crucial data like revenue, transactions, product names, and average order value. Setting it up involves sending specific e-commerce events and parameters from your website to Google Analytics.

Here are the common ways to get it running:

• Platform Integrations: If you use a platform like Shopify, Wix, or BigCommerce, you're in luck. Most major e-commerce platforms have native integrations that handle GA4 e-commerce tracking for you with just a few clicks. Just check your platform's app store or settings for a Google Analytics 4 integration.
• Google Tag Manager (GTM): For custom websites or more complex setups, GTM is the most powerful and flexible method. You (or your developer) will need to configure tags that fire on specific user actions, like viewing a product (view_item), adding to a cart (add_to_cart), and making a purchase (purchase). This method requires more technical knowledge but offers complete control over your data.

To confirm it's working, navigate to Reports > Monetization > E-commerce purchases in your GA4 property. If you see revenue, transactions, and product data populating, you’re good to go.

Choosing the Right Metrics for Your Sales Report

A good report tells a clear story, and that starts with tracking the right metrics. Piling on too much data creates confusion, while too little leaves you with an incomplete picture. For a quarterly sales report, focus on a core set of KPIs that directly reflect business health and growth.

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Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to Include:

• Total Revenue: The most straightforward metric. This is the total income generated from all transactions over the quarter. It's your top-line performance indicator.
• Transactions: The total number of purchases completed. This helps you understand purchase volume. You might see high revenue from a few large orders or lower revenue from many small orders.
• E-commerce Conversion Rate: This is the percentage of sessions that resulted in a purchase. It’s calculated as (Transactions / Sessions) * 100 and is a critical measure of how effectively your website turns visitors into customers.
• Average Order Value (AOV): Found by dividing total revenue by the number of transactions, AOV tells you the average amount a customer spends per purchase. Increasing AOV is a powerful way to boost revenue without needing more traffic.
• Top Performing Products: Which items are your bestsellers? This metric can be measured by quantity sold (Item quantity) or total revenue generated (Item revenue). Knowing this helps inform inventory, marketing, and product development strategies.
• Revenue by Traffic Source: Where are your best customers coming from? Break down revenue by source and medium (e.g., google / organic, facebook / cpc, direct / (none)) to see which marketing channels are delivering the highest return on investment (ROI).
• Revenue by Device: Are customers buying more on desktop, mobile, or tablet? Understanding this helps you optimize your user experience for different screen sizes and prioritize design and development efforts.

How to Build Your Quarterly Report in Google Analytics 4

While standard reports in GA4 are a good start, the real power comes from the Explore section, which allows you to build custom reports tailored to your exact needs. We'll use the "Free form" exploration to assemble our quarterly sales report.

Follow these steps to build your custom table from scratch.

Step 1: Navigate to the Explore Section

In the left-hand navigation of GA4, click on Explore. From there, select a blank new exploration by clicking the large plus sign labeled "Blank." Name your exploration something clear, like "Q2 2024 Sales Report."

Step 2: Set the Date Range

In the top left corner of the Exploration view, you'll see a date range selector. Click on it and select the quarter you want to analyze. You can use presets like “Last quarter” or define a custom start and end date (e.g., April 1, 2024 to June 30, 2024).

This is also where you can add a comparison date range, such as "Previous period" (to see quarter-over-quarter data) or "Previous year" (for year-over-year analysis). This context is what turns raw data into actionable insights.

Step 3: Import Your Dimensions and Metrics

You need to tell GA4 which building blocks you want to use. On the left side, in the "Variables" column, you'll see sections for Dimensions and Metrics. Click the plus icon next to each one to add the necessary data points.

For our report, import the following:

• Dimensions: Search for and select "Session source / medium," "Device category," and "Item name."
• Metrics: Search for and select "E-commerce revenue," "Transactions," "Sessions," "Purchase-to-view rate" (this works well as a product-level conversion rate), and "Average purchase revenue" (GA4's AOV metric).

Click "Apply" to add them to your exploration.

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Step 4: Build Your Report Tab by Tab

The best way to organize a quarterly report is to dedicate separate tabs to different questions. Let's create a few key views.

Tab 1: Performance by Traffic Channel

1. In the "Tab Settings" column, drag the Session source / medium dimension from your Variables panel into the "Rows" box.
2. Drag the following metrics into the "Values" box: E-commerce revenue, Transactions, and Average purchase revenue.
3. Change the "Cell type" to Plain text if you prefer clean numbers, or leave it as a "Bar chart" for quick visual comparison.

You now have a table showing your complete sales performance broken down by each marketing channel, allowing you to see exactly where your revenue is coming from.

Tab 2: Top Selling Products

1. Click the plus sign (+) next to your first tab's name to create a new one. In the "Tab Settings," make sure the "Technique" is set to "Free form."
2. This time, drag the Item name dimension into the "Rows" box.
3. Drag the metrics E-commerce revenue and Items purchased into the "Values" box.
4. You can add a filter to exclude any test products or "(not set)" items. Below the "Rows" and "Values" boxes, find the "Filters" section. Drag Item name into the filter box, select "does not contain," and enter any terms to exclude.

This view immediately highlights your most popular products, so you can make informed decisions about inventory management, featured product promotions, and cross-selling campaigns.

Adding Context and Visualizations

Numbers alone are just a starting point. To add value, you need to analyze trends, compare periods, and add annotations to explain the "why" behind the data.

Compare Performance Over Time

As mentioned in Step 2, use the date comparison feature. When you select a comparison period (like “Previous Period”), GA4 automatically adds percentage change values next to each metric. This immediately shows you if you’re growing or shrinking quarter-over-quarter.

• Did revenue from Organic Search grow by 15%? Great! What drove that growth?
• Did AOV from Paid Social drop by 10%? Why might that be? Did you run a discount campaign?

This comparative context is essential for a high-quality review meeting.

Visualize Trends

While tables are great for detail, charts are better for spotting trends. In your Exploration, you can instantly change the visualization type in "Tab Settings." Select "Line chart" at the top to see your revenue trend over the course of the quarter. Set the X-axis dimension to "Day" or "Week" and the Y-axis metric to "E-commerce revenue."

This allows you to spot specific spikes or dips. Did revenue jump on a certain day? Check your marketing calendar - that was likely the day you launched your new campaign. A sudden drop? Maybe there was a technical issue with the website. Visuals make these patterns easy to catch.

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Sharing Your Report with Your Team

Once your exploration is built, you have a live report you can return to anytime. To share it with your team, click the share icon in the top right. This will give you a read-only link to your exploration so other users in the GA4 property can see what you’ve built.

For formatting your own presentations or documents, click the export icon (a downward arrow into a tray) to download the data as:

• Google Sheets
• CSV
• PDF

For more beautiful, automated client or stakeholder reports, sending the data to Looker Studio (formerly Google Data Studio) is the best option. You can use GA4 as a data source to build dashboards that update automatically.

Final Thoughts

Building a quarterly sales report in Google Analytics 4 is a powerful way to understand your business performance without having to export endless spreadsheets. By configuring e-commerce tracking, focusing on the right metrics, and using the Exploration feature to build custom views, you can create a detailed and actionable report that guides your strategy for the next quarter.

Instead of manually rebuilding these views every quarter across GA4, Shopify, and your ad platforms, we built Graphed to do the heavy lifting for you. We connect to your data sources in seconds and allow you to create dashboards using simple, natural language. Just ask, "Show me a dashboard of year-over-year quarterly revenue broken down by traffic source," and Graphed builds a live dashboard instantly, so you can get straight to the insights instead of wrestling with reports.