Discount & Profit Calculator
On a $20 item that costs you $8, a 20% discount does not cost you 20% of your profit. It costs a third of it. Enter your price, your cost and the deal you have in mind, and see how many more sales it needs just to break even, before you print the flyer.
Discount & Profit Calculator
Your numbers
Only what one more sale costs you: the product or ingredients, packaging, card fees, any commission. Leave out rent and wages; they stay the same whether the promotion works or not.
The promotion
Optional
What the deal does
If the deal brings in more sales
Assumes every sale during the promotion gets the deal, the way a storewide discount works. A coupon only some customers use costs you less.
Common discounts at your margin
| Discount | Price | Profit per sale | Sales needed |
|---|
Margin vs markup
Two different numbers that get mixed up. Margin is profit as a share of the price; markup is profit as a share of the cost.
How to use it, and why it matters
Count only the cost of one more sale
Cost here is what one extra sale costs you: the product or ingredients, packaging, card fees, a platform commission. Rent and wages stay the same whether the deal works or not, so leave them out. If you only know your food or product cost as a percentage, switch the cost box to %.
A discount comes out of profit, not price
A $20 item that costs $8 makes $12. At 20% off it sells for $16 and still costs $8, so it makes $8, a third less on every sale. You need 50% more sales just to end up where you started, and the thinner your margin, the faster that number climbs.
Give the deal an end date and count it
Use a code or a separate button so you know who used it, and compare the weeks before and during. A minimum-spend deal like “$10 off orders over $50” can cost less than a straight percentage because people spend more to get it; run both through the calculator. Our Google and Meta ads service can put the deal in front of people nearby.
Want us to do this for you?
We run Google and Meta ads, Google Maps SEO, websites and delivery-platform growth for restaurants, salons, dental offices, auto shops and service businesses across the San Fernando Valley. Free 15-minute call, no pitch deck.