Analytics / New Feature

Analytics adds "Cumulative Metrics"
See a building-up line instead of per-day values

The "Cumulative" toggle in the Visualization panel, or ShopifyQL's WITH CUMULATIVE_VALUES , makes the time-series chart show a "running total (cumulative)" instead of daily values.

On this page
  1. What's changing (in 30 seconds)
  2. The difference between daily and cumulative charts
  3. Three ways to use it (combinations Shopify suggests)
  4. How to use it (UI and ShopifyQL)
  5. Five points developers should know
  6. Three use cases for your business
  7. A one-line summary you can use in a pitch

1What's changing

Analytics time-series charts now have a "Cumulative" view added.
Instead of stacking daily values as bars,a "building-up line" from the start of the period is what you see. At a glance, you can grasp your "pace toward the target" and "how growth differs from the same period last year."

Before: Daily values

Shows daily sales, order counts, and the like as-is. You can see day-to-day fluctuations, but you had to work out "how much accumulated over the period" in your head separately.

New: Cumulative

Displays the total from the start of the period as a line. When the upward slope flattens you're losing steam; when it steepens you're accelerating."How much is left to the target / when you'll likely reach it" can be read directly.

2The difference between daily and cumulative charts

Cumulative OFF (daily) Daily values as-is → you have to work out the period total in your head Cumulative ON (cumulative) Target The total from the start of the period trends upward → goal pace at a glance
Even with the same data, just switch the view. The basic rule: turn it OFF when you want to see the daily waveform (fluctuations), and ON when you want to talk about monthly or quarterly attainment.

3Three ways to use it (combinations Shopify suggests)

1

Use it on its own

See how values build up day by day within the period. Good for understanding growth patterns.

2

Pair it with a Target

Overlay the cumulative line with the target line to judge whether you're on pace and likely to reach the goal.

3

Comparison with the previous period

Overlay the cumulative total for the same period last year (or any chosen period) to compare how this period's trajectory differs.

4How to use it (UI and ShopifyQL)

UI: A toggle in the Visualization panel

In the chart's visualization settings panel, Cumulative toggle turn it ON. You can switch it with no code.

ShopifyQL

Query: WITH CUMULATIVE_VALUES

In a ShopifyQL query, appending WITH CUMULATIVE_VALUES returns the result's time series as cumulative values. Usable in custom dashboards/reports.

The detailed scope of supported plans, supported report types, and applicable metrics is not documentedin the announcement. Open the target report in your live environment to check whether the toggle appears.

55 points engineers should keep in mind

1. A view-layer change—no extra data is created

A feature that switches only the "display method" of existing time-series data to cumulative. The aggregation spec and granularity (day/week/month) of the source data don't change. No impact on storage or billing.

ShopifyQL

2. Syntax added on the ShopifyQL side too

Not limited to the UI, WITH CUMULATIVE_VALUES is built into the language itself. You can use it in a reproducible form in custom reports/dashboards.

3. Works well with Target

A cumulative line can be compared directly against a target line. It fits naturally with progress tracking like "what % since the start of the month" or "how many days until we reach the goal."

4. Previous-period comparison is supported too

The same cumulative mode lets you overlay the same period last year or any period. The "difference in total growth over the period" is more intuitive to see than a daily comparison.

?

5. No explicit list of supported metrics or supported plans

The official announcement only says "added to Analytics" and "in ShopifyQL, WITH CUMULATIVE_VALUES added"—just a feature-level description.Which report screens it appears on / which plans can use it / its conditions for combining with aggregation functions are not documented. Verify the behavior in your target environment before adopting it in reports.

63 use cases you can apply to your work

Goal
USE CASE 1

A "pace-management dashboard" for monthly and quarterly sales targets

Challenge
There's no screen that instantly answers "will we hit it at the current pace?" against the sales target set at the start of the month or quarter, so you rely on mental math or weekly tallies.
Solution
Make the combination of a cumulative sales chart + target line into a recurring report. With ShopifyQL WITH CUMULATIVE_VALUES you can also save it as a custom report.
Impact
In management meetings, you can instantly answer "pace: ◯%." Detect early slowdowns → make the decision to launch initiatives sooner.
Technical note
Choose between building a personal view with the UI toggle or a team-shared report with ShopifyQL, depending on the need.
USE CASE 2

Year-over-year trajectory visualization for campaign and sales periods

Problem
During BFCM and major sales, you want to see in real time whether this year is outpacing last year. Day-by-day comparisons swing too much to judge clearly.
Approach
Overlay the prior-year cumulative line on cumulative charts of sessions, sales, and orders. Read the slope of the lines to see when the gap widened or narrowed during the period.
Impact
Instantly make calls like "we passed last year on day ◯" or "we lost steam at the end." A basis for deciding whether to add more promotion.
Technical notes
Use Cumulative + prior-period comparison together in the same chart. Be sure to set both periods to the same number of days.
Campaign launch date
USE CASE 3

Validating campaign impact: judge whether it worked by the change in the cumulative line's slope

Problem
Looking at the impact of ads, LP improvements, and campaign launches through daily waveforms alone buries the signal in noise and makes it hard to judge.
Approach
Use a cumulative chart split at the launch date to visually assess whether the line's slope changed (accelerated). Compare cumulative totals over equal periods before and after launch.
Impact
Less reporting effort and faster agreement on whether it worked. It also works as-is as screenshot material for client reports.
Technical notes
If you want to evaluate the slope change statistically, the solid approach is to export ShopifyQL's cumulative results to BigQuery or similar and run a regression test.

7One-line summary for pitches

"Analytics adds a Cumulative view .
With a single UI toggle—or ShopifyQL's WITH CUMULATIVE_VALUES , you can now show
goal-attainment pace, year-over-year trajectory, and campaign impact at a glance as 'stacking lines.'"