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Sales by Category
The Sales by Category report groups every completed sale by product category. It tells you which departments drive your revenue and where your profit margin is healthiest or weakest.
Use this report to answer questions like:
- Which categories bring in the most money?
- Which categories have the best profit margins?
- Are there categories with high sales volume but low margin that need attention?
How to run the report
- Click Reports in the left menu.
- Click the Sales by Category card.
- Set the date range using the From and To fields, or pick a preset period such as Last 30 days or This month.
- Click Run Report.
The report does not load automatically when you open the page.
What the table shows
Each row in the table is one category. The columns are:
- Category: the name of the category. Products not assigned to any category appear under "Uncategorised".
- Revenue: total money taken in that category, after discounts and loyalty redemptions.
- Qty: units sold. For categories that contain products sold by weight or volume, quantities appear side by side separated by a dot (for example, "145 · 32.500 kg") because the numbers measure different things and cannot be added.
- Margin: revenue minus what those products cost you to buy. This is your gross profit from that category. The exported file labels this column "COGS" (cost of goods sold) for the cost figure, and "Gross Margin" for the profit figure.
- Margin %: margin as a percentage of revenue. The cell is colour-coded: ■ green is 30% or above, ■ amber is 15 to 29%, and ■ red is below 15%.
- Txns: how many separate sales included at least one product from this category.
Click any column header to sort the table by that column.
Reading the chart
Above the table, a bar and line chart shows all categories side by side:
- Blue bars: how much revenue each category brought in. A taller bar means more revenue.
- Amber line: the margin percentage for each category. A higher point on the line means a healthier profit margin.
Comparing the bar height to the line position gives you four useful patterns:
| Bar | Line | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Tall | High | Your strongest categories. High revenue and healthy margin. Promote and protect these. |
| Tall | Low | Volume drivers with thin margins. Common for fast-moving basics. |
| Short | High | Low-volume categories with healthy margins. Worth expanding if you have the shelf space. |
| Short | Low | Categories worth reviewing. Low sales and low margin. |
INFO
Hover over any bar or point to see the full numbers for that category. The chart shows the top 12 categories by revenue.
Viewing products in a category
Click any category row to see the individual products inside it. The product list shows the same columns as the category view, plus two extras:
- Code: the product's short reference code.
- Stock: how many units are currently in stock. A Low badge appears when stock is running down and an Out badge appears when it has reached zero.
This helps you find a slow-moving product that is pulling a category's margin down, or a bestseller you keep running out of.
Click Back to return to the category list. The original results are kept so you do not need to re-run the report.
TIP
You cannot open the Uncategorised row. Assign categories to those products on the Products page and re-run the report to see them grouped correctly.
Exporting to a spreadsheet
When the report has results, an Export button appears in the toolbar. Clicking it prepares an Excel file in the background and downloads it automatically once it is ready.
If you are viewing products inside a category, the export contains only those products, not the full category list.
If you navigate away before the export finishes, go to Exports in the left menu to find and download the file there.
A worked example
A small supermarket runs the report for last month:
| Category | Revenue | Qty | Margin | Margin % | Txns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beverages | 412,300 | 5,432 | 164,920 | 40.0% | 1,240 |
| Bakery | 287,150 | 3,210 | 86,145 | 30.0% | 1,050 |
| Snacks | 198,450 | 4,890 | 49,613 | 25.0% | 980 |
| Cigarettes | 154,200 | 1,540 | 7,710 | 5.0% | 870 |
| Uncategorised | 12,800 | 145 | 3,840 | 30.0% | 95 |
What this tells the manager:
- Beverages and Bakery have the strongest margins. These are the categories to give prime shelf space and run promotions on.
- Cigarettes drive a lot of traffic (870 transactions) but make almost nothing. That is normal for tobacco. The category brings customers through the door, but the profit comes from what they pick up alongside it.
- Uncategorised appears because some products have not been assigned a category yet. A short clean-up on the Products page would fold those sales into the right groups and give a cleaner picture.
Things to watch out for
Cost prices not filled in: if a product has no cost price set, its margin contribution counts as zero. This can make a category look less profitable than it really is. Set cost prices on the Products page, or let Purchase Orders fill them in automatically.
Changed categories: the report uses each product's current category, not the one it was in when the sale happened. If you reorganise your category structure, historical results reflect the new structure.
Heavy discounting: large discounts reduce revenue but not cost, which compresses the margin percentage. If a category looks unexpectedly thin, check whether there was heavy discounting in that period.
FAQ
Q: What happens to products with no category?
A: They are grouped under "Uncategorised". To clean this up, go to the Products page and assign a category to each one.
Q: How is margin calculated when I have not set cost prices?
A: If a product has no cost price recorded, its margin contribution is counted as zero. The report treats no cost recorded as unknown margin rather than guessing. Set cost prices on the Products page, or let Purchase Orders fill them in automatically over time.
Q: Why does the Margin column show a small warning note?
A: Margin figures use the cost price currently set on each product, not what you paid at the time of the sale. If you updated a cost price recently, the margin shown will reflect the new cost, not the original one.
Q: My margin % seems low for a category I know is healthy.
A: Two common reasons. First, cost prices may be out of date. Check the Products page and confirm the cost column is filled in. Second, there may have been heavy discounting in that period. Discounts reduce revenue but not cost, which compresses the margin percentage.
Q: Can I see margin per product inside a category?
A: Yes. Click the category row to open the product list. Each product gets its own line with the same columns.
Q: My product moved category last week. Which category does this report use?
A: The product's current category at the time the report runs, not the category it was in when the sale happened. If you regularly reorganise your category structure, keep this in mind when reading historical results.
Q: Does this include voided sales?
A: No. Only completed sales count toward revenue, quantity, and margin.
Q: Are loyalty redemptions deducted from revenue?
A: Yes. Revenue is shown after all discounts, including loyalty point redemptions and standing customer discounts.
Q: What does "Txns" mean?
A: The number of separate sales (transactions) that included at least one product from this category. A single sale with a coffee (Beverages) and a sandwich (Bakery) counts once in each category's Txns column.
Q: Why does the Qty column show mixed numbers in some categories?
A: If a category contains products sold by weight or volume alongside products sold by the unit, the quantities appear side by side separated by a dot. In that case the numbers cannot be added together because they measure different things. Open the category to see each product's quantity in its own unit.