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CM3 per Order is what an average order contributes after product cost, fulfillment, payment fees, and the marketing it took to get it. Positive means orders pay for their own acquisition; the rest goes to overhead and profit.

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Formula

CM3 per Order = ( CM2 − Marketing order fees − Ad Spend ) ÷ Orders

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Formula Components

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How It Works

Upstack calculates CM3 per Order from order data and ad spend in a single query. Recurring expenses and Variable costs in the Marketing category are not part of it. Those are added to the dollar CM3 when the report runs, but not to the per-order or percentage versions. So if you have recurring or variable marketing costs, CM3 per Order will be higher than CM3 ÷ Orders. The gap equals those costs divided by the order count.

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Example

A supplements brand in a 30-day month: The brand also has a $5,000 Monthly content retainer entered as a Marketing recurring expense. Dollar CM3 includes it ($68,700), so CM3 ÷ Orders is $21.47. The $1.56 difference is the retainer spread over 3,200 orders.

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How to Interpret It

CM3 per Order answers one question: after paying for the ads, does the average order make money? It’s also the number to multiply by orders when you need to know how many orders it takes to cover monthly overhead. With $23 per order and $40,000 in monthly Opex, this brand needs about 1,740 orders to break even at CM4.
  • Falling while CM2 per Order holds means ad efficiency is slipping: rising CPMs, weaker creative, or spend scaling ahead of demand.
  • Rising after a spend cut is expected in the short term. Check New Customers to see what the cut did to acquisition.

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Common Pitfalls

  • Ad spend is spread across every order, including repeat orders that ads did not drive. A store with a large returning base will show a healthier CM3 per Order than its acquisition economics alone would suggest. Look at NC CM3 per Order for that view.
  • Daily views can swing. Ad spend lands on the day it was spent while orders arrive on their own schedule, so single days are noisy. Use weekly or longer ranges.

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FAQ

Recurring expenses and Variable costs in the Marketing category reduce dollar CM3 but aren’t included in CM3 per Order. Without those costs configured, the two match.
It means orders in this period didn’t cover their ad spend. That can be a deliberate investment in acquisition if repeat purchases make it back later. Check how your Cohort CM2 per customer compares to what you’re losing per order.
See all Contribution Margin metrics →