As another wave of entrepreneurs prepares to launch Shopify stores in 2026, TrueProfit, a Net Profit Analytics platform built for Shopify and ecommerce brands, is encouraging founders to spend as much time understanding their numbers as they do choosing a niche or theme.

Shopify remains one of the most accessible ways to start an online business, with an ecosystem of themes, apps and tutorials that make it possible to go from idea to live store in days. But according to TrueProfit, this ease of launch often hides a harder truth: most new merchants underestimate their real costs and overestimate their profit, especially in the first year.

“Setting up a Shopify store is no longer the hard part,” said a TrueProfit spokesperson. “The hard part is making sure that every sale actually moves you closer to profit instead of further into the red. In 2026, successful merchants won’t just be great at marketing — they’ll be great at reading their numbers.”

The new reality for first-time Shopify founders

TrueProfit’s team has reviewed hundreds of early-stage stores and sees the same pattern repeatedly:

• Founders pick a niche, connect suppliers and start running ads.

• Revenue arrives, but cost of goods, shipping, transaction fees and app costs are tracked loosely or not at all.

• By the time a full reconciliation happens, it’s often clear that “winning” campaigns were barely breaking even or losing money after all expenses.

In its educational content, including deep dives on topics like Shopify COGS, TrueProfit emphasizes that understanding the true cost to deliver each product is not optional. It’s the foundation for pricing, margin and scaling decisions.

“Too many new merchants treat COGS as a single number they set once,” the spokesperson added. “In reality, it’s a living input that includes supplier price changes, packaging, shipping, handling and more. If you don’t keep that updated, your pricing decisions are based on fiction.”

Why 2026 demands a profit-first mindset

Compared to just a few years ago, the environment new Shopify merchants face is more competitive and less forgiving. TrueProfit’s briefing highlights several trends that make a profit-first approach essential:

• Advertising has become more expensive and volatile: Meta, TikTok and Google can still deliver traffic, but costs per click and per purchase can swing quickly, punishing campaigns that are only marginally profitable.

• Customer expectations are higher: Shoppers compare prices in seconds, expect fast and clear communication, and are quick to leave reviews when expectations aren’t met.

• Fixed and variable costs are stacking up: Beyond product and shipping, new merchants juggle multiple apps, payment fees, taxes and occasional contractor or staff costs — often without a clear view of how these affect their bottom line.

TrueProfit argues that in this environment, the most resilient new Shopify businesses will be the ones that treat profit as a constraint from day one. That means understanding exactly how much it costs to acquire and fulfill each order, and what’s left over after everything is paid.

TrueProfit’s role for new Shopify stores: make profit obvious

To help founders operate this way from launch, TrueProfit has positioned its app as the “profit layer” of the Shopify stack — the place where all revenue and costs come together in real time.

That’s how TrueProfit help Shopify merchants and dropshippers:

• Connects directly to Shopify to collect revenue, refunds, discounts and taxes.

• Lets merchants configure COGS and shipping rules per product, variant and country so cost data stays accurate as the business evolves.

• Syncs live ad spend from major platforms, tying marketing performance directly to net profit instead of leaving it in separate dashboards.

• Calculates net profit and profit margin at store, product level so founders can see quickly which activities are truly paying off.

• Provides real time P&L views, Customer Lifetime Value insights, mobile apps and an all-store view for operators managing multiple brands.

For merchants wondering how to track Shopify profit without building complex spreadsheets, TrueProfit’s content and platform walk through the shift from “export and guess” to an automated, always-on profit view.

“When you can open one dashboard and immediately see which products and campaigns are profitable, the way you make decisions changes,” the spokesperson said. “You stop chasing revenue screenshots and start steering the business by net profit.”

Helping new founders make smarter decisions from day one

Alongside its app, TrueProfit continues to release guides, calculators and explainers aimed at people who are just starting their Shopify journey. Rather than promising overnight success, these resources are designed to:

• Clarify how costs like COGS, shipping and fees actually behave in the real world.

• Show how to structure pricing and offers around healthy margins, not wishful thinking.

• Explain the practical steps involved in setting up robust profit tracking early, instead of waiting until the business is “big enough.”

“Starting a Shopify business in 2026 can absolutely be a smart move,” the company concluded. “But the winners will be the ones who know their numbers — and stare them in the face — from day one.”

About TrueProfit

TrueProfit is a Net Profit Analytics platform that shows Shopify and ecommerce merchants their true net profit, in real time and on autopilot. By consolidating store data, cost inputs and live ad spend into a single profit-focused dashboard, TrueProfit replaces manual spreadsheets and delayed reports with clear, actionable financial insight.

TrueProfit’s core features include a real-time profit dashboard, automatic cost tracking (COGS, shipping, transaction fees, taxes and custom costs), synced ad spend from major platforms, product and campaign-level profit analytics, Customer Lifetime Value tracking, P&L reports, mobile apps and an all-store view for multi-brand operators. For more information, visit trueprofit.io.

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Company Name: TrueProfit
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City: Ho Chi Minh
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Website: https://trueprofit.io