Leaving Stocky is a starting point, not the whole job. If you are a Shopify merchant, operations manager, or founder who used Stocky to plan reorders, you now need a way to decide which products to restock first using the tools inside the Shopify admin. Shopify’s ABC product analysis is one of those tools. It looks at how each of your variants contributed to revenue recently and groups them so you can see, at a glance, which lines carry the most weight. It is past-sales analysis for prioritization, not demand forecasting and not a reorder-quantity calculator. This guide explains how the grades work, how to read the fixed 28-day window, how to act on the grades when restocking, and what ABC deliberately does not tell you.
What Shopify ABC product analysis is
Since Stocky will not be available after August 31, 2026, and was removed from the Shopify App Store on February 2, 2026, merchants now handle restocking and purchase orders directly in the Shopify admin, where ABC product analysis lives (transitioning from Stocky). If you are still working through the move, the migration checklist covers the broader steps; this article focuses on one specific question inside that move: how to prioritize what to restock.
Shopify’s ABC product analysis gives each of your product variants a grade of A, B, or C. The grade is based on the percentage of your revenue that each variant contributed over the last 28 days (inventory reports). In plain terms, ABC sorts your variants into three groups by how much of your recent revenue they brought in, so you can look at your range and quickly see which lines did the heavy lifting and which barely contributed.
Two things are worth holding onto from the start. First, ABC describes past sales, not future ones; it is analysis, not a forecast. Second, it is one piece of a broader restocking workflow. For wider context on how the pieces fit together after Stocky, see the replenishment hub.
How A, B, and C grades work
The three grades are buckets defined by how much of your recent revenue each variant contributed.
- A-grade products are the variants that together make up 80% of your revenue.
- B-grade products are the variants that make up the next 15%.
- C-grade products are the variants that make up the final 5%.
In most catalogs, a small set of A variants drives most revenue, B is a middle band of contributors, and C is a long tail of low-revenue variants. That is the practical picture: a few lines do most of the work, a handful sit in the middle, and many variants together account for only a small slice.
These percentages describe shares of past revenue over the last 28 days. They are not predictions of future earnings, and a C-grade variant is not “destined” to stay at 5% any more than an A-grade variant is guaranteed to remain in the top band. The numbers describe what already happened, not what will happen next.
Why ABC uses the last 28 days
The window is fixed at the last 28 days, and you cannot change it. That has a few practical consequences worth keeping in mind.
The window is recent. Grades reflect the latest four weeks of sales, so they can shift as your sales change. A variant that had a quiet month may grade lower than its longer-term role in the catalog suggests; a variant that just had a strong four weeks may grade higher than usual.
The window is also fixed. A seasonal spike, a paid campaign, or a recent product launch can pull a variant up into A territory for a stretch and then drop it back as the spike fades. Similarly, a product that normally sells steadily but had a slow four weeks can grade lower than its typical contribution warrants.
The takeaway is to read ABC as a recent snapshot rather than a permanent label. Check it more than once over time. If a variant has held an A grade across several checks, that is more meaningful than a single snapshot. If a variant only briefly appears as an A because of a promotion, treat that for what it is.
How to use ABC to prioritize restocking
ABC product analysis helps you understand which products to prioritize when restocking, and which products you should not invest in too heavily. A concrete way to use it:
Protect A-grade variants first
A-grade variants carry the largest share of recent revenue, so a stockout in this group has the biggest immediate impact. When you plan reorders, look at A variants first and treat their availability as the priority. If you only have time to review part of your catalog before placing a purchase order, the A list is where to spend it.
Treat B-grade variants as a secondary tier
B variants matter, but missing one is less costly than missing an A. Review them after the A list, and use your category knowledge to decide which B variants are trending up (and worth treating more like A’s) and which are stable middle performers.
Be cautious with C-grade variants
C variants together account for only a small share of recent revenue. That is the group where over-ordering ties up cash and shelf space without much return. ABC is explicit that these are products you should not invest in too heavily. Reorder only what you genuinely need to keep the assortment intact.
A grade tells you where to focus attention. It does not tell you how many units to buy. Order quantity is still your decision, based on your own judgment, supplier lead times, what is already on order, and your read of the category.
What ABC analysis does not tell you
This is the most important boundary to hold.
ABC is not demand forecasting. It does not predict future demand or future revenue. The grades describe each variant’s share of revenue over the last 28 days, which is past data by definition.
ABC does not tell you how many units to reorder. It does not recommend or calculate reorder quantities. There is no order-size output in the grade itself; A, B, and C are prioritization labels, not quantities.
ABC does not account for seasonality. A holiday product graded C in a quiet month can still be the right thing to stock heavily before its season. Conversely, an A grade pulled up by a one-off promotion does not justify a permanent increase in order size.
ABC does not account for promotions, supplier lead times, or stock you already have on order. Those are judgments you bring to the reorder decision yourself. Use the grade as one useful past-data signal for prioritization, not an automated decision.
Combine ABC with other signals
ABC is most useful alongside the other inventory reports in the Shopify admin. On its own, a grade tells you a variant’s share of recent revenue. Paired with other signals, you get a fuller picture before deciding what to reorder.
Two pairings are particularly useful:
- Pair ABC with the products by sell-through rate report to see how fast stock is actually moving for the variants you are prioritizing. A high-grade variant with a strong sell-through behaves differently from a high-grade variant whose recent revenue came from a small number of large orders.
- Pair ABC with days of inventory remaining to estimate timing. If your A-grade variant is running thin, the timing question becomes more urgent; if it has plenty of cover, you have room to plan.
All of these are past-data analyses or estimates based on past data, not forecasts. They sharpen your judgment about which variants to prioritize and when to act, but they do not make the decision for you. The reorder call is still yours.
Where supplier performance fits before reordering
Once ABC has helped you decide which products to prioritize, the next practical step before placing a reorder is to think about the suppliers behind those products. Purchase order records in Shopify give you a record of past purchase orders you can refer back to when comparing how vendors have actually performed for you.
Keep that comparison qualitative. Look at plain factors like reliability (did orders arrive in full and in usable condition) and delivery (did they arrive when expected, or did they slip). If two suppliers can provide a similar product and one has consistently been more dependable, that should influence which one you reorder from first, especially for A-grade variants where a delay has the biggest revenue impact.
Treat ABC as the answer to “which products should I prioritize,” and supplier reliability as part of the answer to “from whom, and when.” Together they help you make a clearer reorder call than either signal would on its own.
Limitations
Kijun is not a full Stocky replacement. It does not forecast demand, recommend reorder quantities, provide low-stock alerts, manage inventory transfers, or replace Shopify’s native inventory reports and workflows.
Use kijun to review supplier performance before your next reorder, based on supported supplier and vendor records and purchase orders recorded in kijun. Review suppliers before your next reorder.
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against cited sources through kijun’s editorial workflow. Last updated: 2026-05-27.
Stocky and Shopify are trademarks of Shopify Inc. kijun is not affiliated with or endorsed by Shopify.