Free tool
Discount And Promotion Calculator
A 20 % discount asks for far more than 20 % extra sales. On a 40 % margin, it asks you to double your sales to earn as much as before. The tool gives you that number for your promotion.
A discount lowers the price while the cost stays the same: the whole cut comes out of the margin. To keep the same total margin, sales must grow by the ratio between the margin before and the margin after. With a 100 € price and a 60 € cost, a 20 % discount takes the margin from 40 € to 20 € per sale: you need to sell twice as much.
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How the break-even point of a discount works
Margin before = Price − Cost Margin after = Price × (1 − Discount) − Cost Extra sales = Margin before ÷ Margin after − 1
At 100 € excl. VAT with a 60 € cost, each sale leaves 40 €. With a 20 % discount the price drops to 80 € and the margin to 20 €. To keep the 120,000 € margin from your 3,000 sales, you need 6,000.
The same discount weighs very differently depending on your margin. With a 30 € cost instead of 60, the margin goes from 70 € to 50 € and 40 % more sales are enough. The thinner your margin, the more a discount costs.
This threshold is a break-even point: below it the promotion loses margin, above it the promotion earns some. Customers who would have bought at full price count in the discounted sales, and each of them costs margin without adding a sale.
Before you launch your promotion
- Compare two discount levels: 10 % and 20 % ask for very different volumes.
- Set the ad budget for the promotion: the margin left after the discount is what pays for the visits.
- Plan your stock: the sales to reach tell you how many units to prepare for the promotion to pay off.
Frequently asked questions
How do I calculate a discount?
Multiply the price by the discount percentage, then subtract that amount from the price. For 20 % off 100 €: 100 × 20 % = 20 €, so a sale price of 80 €.
What is the formula for a discount percentage?
Discount % = (original price − sale price) ÷ original price × 100. A price that goes from 100 € to 85 € carries a 15 ÷ 100 × 100 = 15 % discount.
How many extra sales do I need to cover a discount?
Divide your margin before by your margin after, then subtract 1. With 40 € of margin before and 20 € after: 40 ÷ 20 − 1 = 100 % more sales.
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