Discount Damage Calculator

Find out whether your promo creates profit or just busier losses.

Discounts feel simple until unit profit collapses and everyone celebrates revenue while margin quietly faceplants into a ditch.

Inputs

Promo math

Results

Profit after discount

$13.51

The promo needs more extra unit sales than your expected lift. That is not a strategy. That is optimism with a discount code.

Promo warning

This discount probably creates busier losses unless it lifts sales more than expected.

  • Discounted price$39.20
  • Profit before discount$23.03
  • Profit after discount$13.51
  • Units required to match old profit1.70x
  • Required sales lift70.4%

Formula

discounted_price = normal_price × (1 - discount_percent)

profit_before = normal_price - COGS - shipping - packaging - fee_before

profit_after = discounted_price - COGS - shipping - packaging - fee_after

required_sales_lift = profit_before / profit_after - 1

Plain English

A discount needs to earn its keep.

If the discount cuts profit per order in half, you need roughly twice the profitable sales just to stand still. “More orders” is not automatically a win. Sometimes it is just losses doing cardio.

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