Quick answer: Enhanced Ecommerce is a Universal Analytics feature that tracks the full shopping process: product impressions in lists, product detail views, add to basket and remove, each checkout step, purchases, refunds and internal promotions. To use it, switch it on in your Google Analytics view settings, load the ec plugin (or send the data through Google Tag Manager’s data layer), and send the right actions from each page of your store. The payoff is reports that show where shoppers drop out and which products, lists and promotions actually drive sales.
Standard ecommerce tracking in Google Analytics records transactions: order ID, revenue and the items bought. That tells you what sold, but nothing about the visitors who looked at a product and left, or abandoned the checkout halfway. Enhanced Ecommerce fills in those gaps.
What Enhanced Ecommerce tracks
Enhanced Ecommerce works with a set of “actions” and product data that you send as shoppers move through the store.
- Product impressions: which products were shown in category pages, search results or related product lists, and in which position.
- Product clicks: when a shopper clicks a product in a list.
- Product detail views: when a product page is viewed.
- Add to basket and remove from basket.
- Checkout steps: each stage of checkout, such as basket, delivery details, payment and review, along with options chosen (for example, delivery method or card type).
- Purchases: the completed order with revenue, tax, shipping and coupon.
- Refunds: full or partial, sent when you process them.
- Internal promotions: banners and offers on your own site, with views and clicks.
Each product can carry an ID, name, brand, category (up to five levels), variant, price and quantity.
Requirements
- Universal Analytics. Enhanced Ecommerce only works with
analytics.jsor Tag Manager’s Universal Analytics tags, not the olderga.jscode. If you are still on classic Analytics, see our Universal Analytics upgrade guide first. - Ecommerce enabled in the view. In Admin, under View, open Ecommerce Settings and turn on both Ecommerce and Enhanced Ecommerce Reporting.
- Developer time, or a good plugin. The data has to be sent from your store’s templates. Some platforms have plugins that do much of the work.
Planning before you code
A little planning saves a lot of rework.
Agree on product data
Decide which fields you will send and keep them identical everywhere. If the product ID is “SKU123” on the product page and “123” in the basket, reports will not join up. Decide on category naming, brand values and how variants are recorded.
Map your checkout steps
Write down each step of your checkout as a numbered list. In Ecommerce Settings you can name these steps, for example:
- View basket
- Login or guest checkout
- Delivery details
- Payment
- Review order
Your code then sends the step number as shoppers reach each stage. These names appear in the Checkout Behaviour report.
List your product lists
Name each place products appear: “Category page”, “Search results”, “Related products”, “Homepage featured”. Consistent list names make the Product List Performance report useful.
Implementation options
Option 1: analytics.js with the ec plugin
Load the plugin after creating your tracker:
ga('create', 'UA-XXXXX-Y', 'auto');
ga('require', 'ec');
Then add product data and set actions before sending a pageview or event. For a product detail view:
ga('ec:addProduct', {
'id': 'SKU123',
'name': 'Leather Wallet',
'category': 'Accessories/Wallets',
'brand': 'Example Brand',
'variant': 'Brown',
'price': '39.00'
});
ga('ec:setAction', 'detail');
ga('send', 'pageview');
On the order confirmation page, add each product bought and set the purchase action with the transaction details: ID, revenue, tax, shipping and coupon. Add to basket and checkout steps work the same way, usually sent with an event.
Option 2: Google Tag Manager data layer
With Tag Manager, your store pushes ecommerce data into the data layer in a set format, and a Universal Analytics tag with “Enable Enhanced Ecommerce Features” and “Use data layer” ticked reads it. This keeps tracking logic out of your templates and makes changes easier later. Your developers still need to push the right data at the right moments.
Option 3: Platform plugins
Plugins exist for WooCommerce, Magento and other platforms that output Enhanced Ecommerce data. They save time but vary in quality and completeness. Check what each one actually sends: some cover purchases and product views but skip impressions, promotions or refunds.
Testing your setup
Never assume tracking works because the code is in place.
- Use the Google Analytics Debugger extension for Chrome to see each hit and its ecommerce data in the browser console.
- Use Tag Manager’s preview mode if you implemented through the data layer.
- Place test orders and confirm they show in the Sales Performance report, with correct revenue, tax and shipping.
- Compare with your store’s orders over a week. Some difference is normal, because some visitors block tracking, but large gaps point to a problem.
- Use a separate test view while you develop, so test orders do not pollute your real data.
The reports worth using
Once data flows, you get a set of new reports under Conversions, Ecommerce.
Shopping Behaviour
A funnel from all sessions through product views, add to basket, checkout and purchase. It shows how many sessions abandon at each stage. Segment it by device or traffic source to find where problems are concentrated.
Checkout Behaviour
The same idea for each checkout step you defined. A big drop at the delivery step might point to unexpected shipping costs. A drop at payment might point to a technical issue or missing payment options.
Product Performance
Revenue, quantity and refund figures per product, plus useful ratios: the cart to detail rate (how often a product view leads to add to basket) and the buy to detail rate (how often it leads to a purchase). Products with lots of views but a low buy to detail rate may need better descriptions, photos or pricing.
Product List Performance
How each list performs: impressions, clicks and the revenue that followed. Useful for judging whether related products or homepage features earn their space.
Internal Promotion
Views and clicks for banners and offers, with the revenue that followed. Stop guessing which homepage banner works.
Order Coupon and Product Coupon
How discount codes perform, which helps when judging campaigns.
Turning data into improvements
- Fix the checkout step with the biggest drop first. Even small gains there affect every sale.
- Improve product pages with high views and low add to basket rates.
- Test changes rather than guessing.
- Combine with goals for non purchase actions such as newsletter sign ups. See Google Analytics goals.
Common mistakes
- Sending purchases again when a customer reloads the confirmation page, which inflates revenue. Make sure the purchase only fires once per order.
- Mixing up product IDs between pages.
- Sending prices with currency symbols or commas instead of plain numbers.
- Forgetting to set the store currency in the view settings.
- Tracking impressions for hundreds of products on one page, which can exceed hit size limits. Send them in batches.
FAQ
Can I use standard and Enhanced Ecommerce together?
No. Once you switch to Enhanced Ecommerce, use only the ec plugin. Loading the old ecommerce plugin as well causes conflicts.
Do I need a developer?
For a full setup, usually yes, or a good platform plugin plus some checking. The value comes from accurate data, so it is worth doing properly.
Will it slow my store down?
The extra data adds very little to page load. The main cost is development and testing time.
Know what is selling and why
Enhanced Ecommerce turns analytics from a sales tally into a map of your shoppers’ behaviour. We plan, implement and check tracking for online stores, then help you act on what it shows. See how we help businesses know what’s working.
