A store can double its revenue and still lose money. That happens when product costs, shipping, fees and ad spend grow faster than sales.
The profit formula
Net profit per order is revenue minus product cost, shipping, payment fees, refunds and the share of ad spend that brought the order in.
- Product cost: what you paid for the item, including packaging.
- Shipping: what you paid the carrier, not what the customer paid.
- Fees: payment processing and platform fees.
- Ad spend: allocated by your attribution model.
Where profit hides
Discount codes, free-shipping thresholds and heavily advertised products are the usual suspects. A best-selling product with a high return rate can quietly lose money on every sale.
Make it a weekly habit
Review profit by product and by channel every week. Pause campaigns with negative profit, raise prices or bundle low-margin items, and push products that bring repeat customers.
With FCAnalytics, costs are pulled from your store and ad accounts automatically, so profit is calculated for every order without a spreadsheet.