Shopify Analytics with PostHog? Watch This First | E-Commerce Reporting Problems

PostHog is an incredible product analytics platform, but should you use it as your primary analytics tool on a Shopify store? Short answer: probably not. In this video, we break down the core limitations of PostHog for e-commerce reporting: the items array problem, missing default funnel and drop-off reports, coupon attribution headaches, and why building product-level analytics requires custom SQL that quickly becomes a nightmare. We also show you a live demo of how we've structured purchase events on postthogdemo.com to work around some of these limitations, and walk through PostHog's own Shopify documentation to explain where it falls short. But it's not all bad news. We cover the specific use cases where PostHog actually makes sense for Shopify stores: subscription products, custom dashboards behind login portals, and optimizing customer-facing experiences where product analytics shines. If you're running an e-commerce business and trying to figure out whether PostHog is right for you, this video will save you a lot of time and frustration. 🔗 Need help with your analytics setup? https://visionlabs.com/contact 📚 Chapters are in the timestamps below: 00:00 The core problem with PostHog and e-commerce 00:50 Why PostHog wasn't built for e-commerce 01:21 The classic e-commerce funnel explained 01:37 Items array: where reporting breaks down 02:40 Why you should trust us on this 03:09 Walking through PostHog's Shopify documentation 03:43 The products array problem vs GA4's items array 04:24 Live demo: tracking a single product purchase 05:22 Transaction-level events vs item-level events 05:45 The coupon and discount attribution problem 06:40 CTA: Need help with your analytics setup? 07:02 How we structured purchase events (workaround) 08:07 Building product breakdowns in PostHog 09:20 Why pivot tables and multi-breakdown reporting fail 09:50 What proper e-commerce reporting looks like (Matomo example) 10:24 When you SHOULD use PostHog with Shopify 11:25 Ingesting Shopify data via BigQuery 11:46 PostHog as a product analytics tool behind login portals 12:19 Final thoughts: powerful if you know what you're doing