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Metrics type: Supporting Metrics • Category: Ecommerce Platform

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At a glance

Active product count grouped by productType. Type is Shopify’s structured category field, distinct from the free-text Product Tags. The card surfaces catalog shape: how is the inventory organised by canonical category?

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Calculation

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Worked example

A UK DTC apparel brand on Shopify Plus, 920 active products. Snapshot at 12 May 26. Five things to notice:
  1. The catalog is fragmented. “T-Shirts” (184) and “Tshirts” (41) are conceptually the same; “Hoodies” (142) and “Hoodie” (38) likewise. The fragmentation is almost certainly historical: a CSV import or a junior merchandiser used different conventions over time. Consolidating to canonical names (“T-Shirts” 225 total, “Hoodies” 180 total) makes the card actionable, makes Google Shopping feeds cleaner, and unblocks Smart Collections that condition on type.
  2. (no type) at 8.5% is the cleanup target. 78 products with no productType set won’t appear in any type-based Smart Collection or Google Shopping product group keyed off type. Often the gap is migration debris (CSV import without the field) or app-created products (review apps, gift-card apps) that skip the field. Audit those 78 and either set a type or accept the gap if the products are intentionally not for type-based merchandising.
  3. The long tail (11 to 24) is where retired categories live. “Outerwear” with 32 might be products that should be re-categorised to “Jackets” or “Coats”. Stores with healthy catalog hygiene have ~5 to 12 distinct types covering 90%+ of catalog; long tails of 50+ types usually signal accumulated naming drift rather than real category richness.
  4. Top-3 type concentration (T-Shirts + Hoodies + Trousers = 46%) is healthy for apparel. Categories should cluster: a focused brand has its top-3 covering 40 to 70% of catalog. Below 30% means either a very wide range (positive: department-store breadth) or runaway fragmentation (negative: every product is its own type). Above 80% means the brand is a single-category specialist (positive on identity, negative on breadth).
  5. Reconciliation with Google Shopping is the under-appreciated value. Shopify maps productType directly into Merchant Center’s product_type field. Fragmented types create fragmented Google Shopping product groups, which can lead to bid-target mismatches in Performance Max and Smart Shopping campaigns. Cleaning this card up directly improves ad performance, not just admin tidiness.

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Sibling cards merchants should reference together

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Reconciling against the vendor’s own dashboard

Where to look in Shopify Admin:
Products → All products → click Filter → Product type → select a type
The product list filtered to a single type shows the count at the top of the table. There is no native “all types ranked by count” view in Shopify Admin; this card is the easiest way to see the global distribution. For setting / editing types in bulk, use the product list’s bulk-edit toolbar (select rows → Bulk edit → add Product type column). Plus stores can also use Shopify Flow to auto-set types based on conditions. Other Shopify Admin views adjacent to product type:
  • Products → Standard product category: a separate, newer field mapped to Google’s product taxonomy. Shopify is gradually nudging merchants to populate this in addition to (or instead of) Product Type.
  • Online Store → Navigation → Collections: collections often condition on Product Type via Smart Collection rules. Where collections fragment because types fragment, the cleanup pays double.
  • Reports → Sales by product type: a revenue-side report rather than the catalog count. Useful for cross-referencing “stocked vs sold by type”.
Why our number may legitimately differ from Shopify Admin: Cross-connector reconciliation:

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Known limitations / merchant FAQs

Why are “T-Shirts” and “Tshirts” separate? Because Shopify preserves casing and spelling exactly. Two strings differing by one character are two separate values. Shopify’s product search treats them case-insensitively, but the underlying data is two rows. To consolidate, bulk-rename via the Shopify product list (filter “Tshirts”, select all, bulk-edit Product Type to “T-Shirts”). The roadmap includes a normalised type rollup view; for now, manual cleanup is the path. Should I use Product Type or Tags for category? Use Type for the canonical singular category, Tags for everything else (audience, season, attribute, operational flag). Doubling up (a product tagged t-shirts AND with type “T-Shirts”) creates maintenance burden without merchandising benefit. Shopify’s official guidance: type for primary category, tags for secondary attributes. What’s “Standard Product Category” and how does it relate to this card? Newer field (rolled out 2023+) that maps to Google’s product taxonomy. Shopify is gradually pushing merchants to populate it for cleaner Google Shopping integrations and better automatic categorisation. This card uses the older productType field; a separate Standard Category card is on the roadmap. Stores can populate both, and most should: standard category for Google Shopping cleanliness, productType for store-internal category logic. My (no type) bucket is 30%, what should I do? Audit the source. Three usual causes: (1) a CSV import that didn’t include the column; (2) products created by apps (review apps, gift cards, bundles) that don’t set the field; (3) historical migration debris. Bulk-edit those products via the Shopify admin product list (filter “Type: empty”). For app-created products, configure the app to set a default type if it offers the option, or set it manually post-creation. Multi-currency stores, does the card change? No. Type belongs to the product, not the variant or the price. Multi-currency stores see identical type distributions across regions. Subscription products, do they have a special type? Not by Shopify itself. Subscription apps (Recharge, Bold, Shopify Subscriptions) sometimes set or suggest a type like “Subscription Box” or use tags. Most stores keep the underlying product’s type (“Coffee”, “Skincare”) and use tags for the subscription flag. Shopify Plus vs basic plan, behavioural differences? None for the type field itself. Plus stores can use Shopify Flow to auto-set type based on conditions; basic stores set it manually or via CSV. B2B Edition products use the same type field as DTC products. B2B vs DTC, do they share types? Yes, type belongs to the product. A B2B-only product with type “Wholesale Pallet” is in this card alongside DTC types. To see B2B-only types, filter products by the b2b-only tag (if you tag B2B products) or by channel publication. Refresh cadence? Webhook-driven, near real-time. Type changes propagate within 5 to 15 minutes. Bulk operations take 5 to 30 minutes. The card shows a type I don’t recognise, where did it come from? Three usual sources: (1) an app set it on its own products, (2) a CSV import included it, (3) a staff member entered it manually. The Shopify product list filtered to that type shows the products; Created by and Created date on those products usually reveal the source. Action playbook for type cleanup:
  1. Pull the type-frequency export (Ask Viq: “export all product types with counts as CSV”). The fragmentation usually jumps off the page.
  2. Build a canonical-name map: a spreadsheet of “current value → target value”. Decide on title-case (“T-Shirts”), singular vs plural (“Hoodie” vs “Hoodies”), and abbreviation rules.
  3. Audit Smart Collection conditions, app rules (search, recommendation, discount), and Liquid template references before renaming. Every dependency needs the new name.
  4. Bulk-rename via the product list filter + bulk edit (or Admin API for >500 products).
  5. Verify Smart Collections and Google Merchant Center re-populated correctly. Allow 24 to 48 hours for ad-channel feed re-pulls.
  6. Set a quarterly cadence; one careless CSV import rebuilds fragmentation faster than expected.

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Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

Products by Type is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Shopify and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English. Start for free or book a demo to see this metric running on your own data.