In an ever-changing eCommerce landscape, data remains a vital component that drives a business in the right direction. Magento 2 is an ecommerce platform that features built-in reporting functionalities. These reporting features help store owners monitor their performance, customers’ activities, and sales.
Nonetheless, with the growth of a business, there is always a need for in-depth, sophisticated analysis or reporting. This is where the Advanced report extension for Magento 2 becomes useful.
This blog focuses on presenting some of the suggestions and practices on how to create and customize the advanced report in the Magento 2 platform.
Understanding Magento 2 Default Reports
Magento 2 consists of specific built-in reports that cover different functional areas of your eCommerce activities. These include:
- Sales Reports: A detailed report relating to the health of the business with respect to sales. It includes order count, sales volume, and revenue by product, customer group, or category.
- Customer Reports: This gives an overview of new members who have registered within the system and old ones who frequently purchase from your business.
- Product Reports: Analyzes product performance by sales volume, views, and stock levels.
Even though such reports have great value, they are mostly not sufficient for businesses that seek to go beyond the standard reports and even create reports of their own. For example, there are organizations that may seek to report sales in terms of geographical location or analyze customer behaviors on a more granular level. This is why Magento advanced reports customization is very important.
How To Generate Custom Reports in Magento 2 – Stepwise Instructions
The Advanced Reports extension for Magento 2 helps you create detailed reports that can be customized to meet your business requirements. Here’s how you can do it in a few steps:
Install and Configure the Advanced Report Extension for Magento 2
- First things first, make sure that you have installed the extension properly. To configure, click on the tab Stores>Configuration and open Elsner Extensions, followed by clicking on Advanced Reports.
- The configuration section in Magento advanced reports provides a means of editing certain custom elements like low stock product quantity, frequency for sending reports, etc.
Choose the Report Type
- In relation to the type of data you need, it is possible to begin by picking an already existing report, such as Sales by Product or Customer Orders, which may present the data you want.
- From the admin panel, go to Reports > Advanced Reports, and select the report that needs to be generated. The Advanced Report Extension for Magento 2 provides users with in-depth reporting that can be modified further.
Set Filters and Choose the Data Range
- Employ built-in filters that help cut down the report to a certain range. For instance, the reports can be restricted within certain periods, certain categories, certain customer levels, or even within particular regions.
Modify Report Columns
- With the help of Magento advanced reports, report columns can be edited. For instance, sale reports can be modified by including additional fields like the SKU, product category, payment method, and others.
- Also, irrelevant fields can be hidden to enable the concentration of the most essential information in relation to the core objectives of your company.
Schedule and Export Reports
- Once you’ve customized your report, the Advanced Report extension for Magento 2 enables you to export it in Excel format.
- There is an option to get automated reports delivered to email on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
Custom Reports You Can Create in Sales Category
Sales by Product:
- Apply any sales metrics against any individual product.
- Add filters for individual products, categories, SKUs, customer groups, and so on.
Sales: Customer Group Breakdown
- Classify sales on the basis of various customer categories (wholesale, retail)
- Insert custom columns such as order frequency, customer lifetime value, and average order value.
Using these filters, provided by the Magento 2 Module, you can get highly specific sales reports.
Customer Report: Types and Customization
Customer reports help business owners understand, classify, and predict consumer purchasing behavior, thus increasing retention and satisfaction levels.
Customer’s Lifetime Value
- Create a personalized report to monitor the lifetime value of your consumers.
- Use the necessary filters in the report to get total orders placed, average order amount, and net revenue made by particular customer segments.
Customer History of Orders
- Track the order record of designated customers or customer demographics within a specified duration.
- Apply filters to focus on specific customer groups based on their last purchase made, the amount they spent, and the number of purchases made.
New vs. Returning Customers
- Customize this report so that it shows the quantity and volume of sales made by newly acquired vs retained customers.
- Include data concerning the source of customer acquisition, their geographical location, or their category (whether retail or wholesale).
Customer Segmentation by Purchase Behavior
- Design an analysis segmenting the customers according to their purchase activity patterns, such as highly loyal or high-value customers, frequent buyers, or inactive accounts.
- This can help you plan email campaigns and come up with retention strategies.
Thus, with this extension available in the Magento extension store, you can create various reports that meet your business requirements.
Product Category Custom Reports
Product Sales Performance
- Create a report where the sales of an individual identifiable product can be measured in terms of the number of units sold, the income made, and the average price per selling unit.
- You may apply a filter by category, SKU, or specific product characteristics.
Stock Status Report
- Design a specific stock status report where all or some product categories can be monitored on stock levels.
- Include such custom attributes as product availability, minimum order quantities, etc.
Top-Selling Products
- With the Magento 2 module, detailed reporting of top-selling products can be generated by applying filters such as product categories, price range, or sales period.
- This report can assist in controlling the marketing strategies and product optimization on the site.
Tips for Creating Magento 2 Custom Reports Effectively
Report modification is always a challenging task, especially with the increasing data size. Here are some suggestions on how to customize your Magento 2 reports:
Prepare a List of Reporting Requirements
Before you go to the Magento extension store, ensure to prioritize what data you want and how you shall apply it. While it is good to have reports, they must align with the business objectives instead of an information dump.
Use Scheduled Reports to Save Time
Instead of generating the report manually each time, there is an option to schedule the period for generating recurring reports. It is efficient but also guarantees that you are making decisions based on the latest information.
Utilize Visual Reporting Tools
Magento 2 modules often have visualization features that can be utilized to generate graphs or charts. Visual reports can ease the process of exploring the data by clarifying what is trending and what is not.
Conclusion
For many growing enterprises, the generation of advanced reports in Magento 2 is a crucial asset, as the built-in reporting system is insufficient. This is facilitated by extending Magento’s default reporting functionality with powerful extensions available in the Magento extension store. It allows users to create detailed and customized reports that suit their professional needs. Such reports enable you to monitor key performance indicators and take necessary actions in order to be competitive in the eCommerce market.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why should one use an advanced reporting extension when there are default Magento reports?
Advanced reporting extensions help customize Magento reports, allowing the tracking of particular metrics, the application of various filters, and the generation of data not found in basic reports.
Are there options for scheduling the generation of the customized reports on a particular date?
With Advanced Report Extension for Magento 2, reports can be created and set for a future date or time and have them sent to your email address.
Are there any graphs available to help you understand the report better?
Yes, it is possible with Elsner’s Advanced Reports Magento 2 extension to make visual dashboards with charts for a better understanding of the data.