MEASURED, NOT SURVEYED
How long is a typical Shopify product description?
Across 4,603 product pages, the median description runs about 61 words, and 11% have no description at all.
This is what established stores actually publish, not a recommendation of what to write. The figure worth acting on is the second one: a product with nothing on it at all.
The readings
| Measure | Figure | Measured over |
|---|---|---|
| Median description length | 61 words | 161 stores |
| Products with no description at all | 11% | 490 of 4,603 products |
| Stores with at least one product missing a description | 40% | 161 stores |
How this was measured
Every figure is read from each store's own public pages, the same way a shopper's browser would — no store login, no app installed, nothing a visitor could not see. Where a reading failed, that store is left out of the affected row rather than counted as a zero, which is why the samples differ between rows. These are single readings taken at one moment, not averages over time. Figures are generated from the measurements each time this page is served, so they move as more stores are scored, and nothing here is typed in by hand.
The sample is mostly established direct-to-consumer brands, so it is a demanding comparison rather than a cross-section of Shopify, and it is not a claim about Shopify stores in general. See the full method and every figure across all 198 stores.
Where does your own store sit?
The same reading, run on your store, free. It tells you which of these you have, ranks them by what each one costs you, and shows your score against these same 198 stores. No sign-up and no store login.