Unit economics
How bluprnts calculates the economics of a single sale — revenue per unit, cost per unit and the margin left — live as you set a product's price and costs.
Unit economics is what one sale is worth once you've paid for it. bluprnts calculates it live from a product's price and unit costs, and shows it beside the fields as you type.
The calculation#
| Figure | Calculation |
|---|---|
| Revenue per unit | Retail price + shipping price charged on |
| Cost per unit | Production + storage & distribution + shipping cost |
| Margin per unit | Revenue per unit − cost per unit |
| Margin % | Margin per unit ÷ revenue per unit |
Services and subscriptions have no production, storage or shipping costs, so their margin per unit is their price.
Where it's shown#
On the Products page, as you edit: where the money goes — revenue per unit, what each cost takes, and what you keep — and a margin health read on whether the economics are strong.
On the statements, the same arithmetic across every sale becomes your gross margin. See Ratios and margins.
Product defaults, sale overrides#
A product holds the defaults its sales inherit. Any price or cost can be overridden on an individual sale, so the same product can have different economics wholesale and retail — which is usually where the interesting version of this question lives. See Sale fields.
Why it matters before volume does#
Unit economics is the first thing to get right, because volume multiplies it in both directions. A product with a negative margin per unit gets worse the more you sell, and no amount of growth fixes it — which is a thing a forecast will show you plainly and a spreadsheet often won't.
Check the margin before you build sales on a product.
Learn more#
The definitions — gross margin, contribution, COGS — are in the glossary.
Related#
- Add or edit a product — where you set it.
- Product fields — every field.
- Metrics & formulas — every derived figure.