Variable costs as a percentage of net revenue—shows how much of your margin is consumed by operational costs.
| Metric | Definition |
|---|
| Variable Costs | Handling + Gateway + Shipping + Other costs |
| Net Revenue | Revenue after discounts and refunds |
| Metadata | |
|---|
| Type | Percentage |
| Data Source | Shopify, Upstack Costs |
| Aggregation | Ratio |
Example
Your store had $18,421 in variable costs against $125,000 net revenue:
| Metric | Value |
|---|
| Variable Costs | $18,421 |
| Net Revenue | $125,000 |
| Variable Costs % | 14.7% |
How It Works
Divides Variable Costs by Net Revenue and multiplies by 100. This percentage helps you understand the operational cost burden on each dollar of revenue. Combined with COGS rates, it gives you a complete picture of where your margin goes.
When to Use
| Scenario | Action |
|---|
| Margin analysis | See operational cost impact on CM2 |
| Cost benchmarking | Compare across periods or segments |
| Pricing strategy | Factor into minimum pricing requirements |
| Operational efficiency | Track if variable costs are creeping up |
| Metric | Relationship |
|---|
| Variable Costs | Dollar value (numerator) |
| Net Revenue | Revenue baseline (denominator) |
| Variable Costs Per Order | Per-transaction average |
| CM2 | Margin after variable costs |
