Purchase Discrepencies - Google UA/Shopify Analytics vs GA4

Technical Q&A

Topic summary

Main issue: Large discrepancies between Shopify Analytics, Universal Analytics (UA), and Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for revenue and purchase counts.

Example: Across Jan–Mar, GA4 reported markedly lower revenue in Jan/Feb and a higher purchase count in March compared to UA/Shopify, raising concerns about ad spend optimization.

Context: UA = Universal Analytics; GA4 = Google Analytics 4. Accurate tracking is critical for profitability decisions tied to Google Ads.

Update/Resolution:

  • Root cause identified as duplicated GA4 tags in Shopify.
  • GA4 was implemented both in “Additional scripts” on the order status page and in the site header.
  • Action: Removed both manual GA4 tags and used only the GA4 tag via Shopify’s “Google & YouTube” sales channel.

Outcome: A screenshot was shared to show where to configure GA4 in the Google & YouTube sales channel; another participant confirmed this solved similar issues.

Status: Resolved. Key takeaway: Avoid duplicate GA4 implementations and rely on Shopify’s official Google & YouTube integration for accurate tracking.

Summarized with AI on January 25. AI used: gpt-5.
1

Hello,

Was wondering if anyone could shed any light on this issue I have.

We set-up GA4 late last year but as it’s coming closer to the time that Google will be switching UA off shortly - I decided to take a deeper dive into my ad spend and analytics.

Historically UA, when compared to Shopify Dashboard Analytics, had been pretty accurate in the most part, for the metrics that matter to us - Revenue & Total Orders/Purchases.

But when I do a side by side of Shopify Analytics vs UA vs GA4 - the differences are quite alarming.

Below is an example.

January February March
Revenue
Shopify 18,087.98 16,207.94 18,087.98
UA 18,378.73 16,536.79 20,095.78
GA4 3,752.98 3,877.52 14,378.79
Purchases/Conversions
Shopify 82 71 82
UA 73 67 88
GA4 67 56 117

I just want to make sure that I am getting the most accurate read on my data - we advertise quite abit through Google Ads and these discrepancies have great potential to effect profitability.

Any thoughts, comments or suggestions?

3 Likes
2

Hi Drazdauskas - I’m seeing similar issues, did you find any solutions?

3

Yup, in a nutshell, we had duplicated our GA4 tags.

We had GA4 tags in both our “Additional scripts” section on the order status page, and we also had it in our header.

We removed both of these as the only place the tag is required is in the “Google & Youtube” sales channel, screenshot below:-

Drazdauskas_0-1686834766389.png
Drazdauskas_0-1686834766389.png957×186 7.59 KB

Hope this helps somewhat

1 Like
4

Thank you so much!