Marketing Cost %: Marketing Spend as Share of Revenue

Marketing cost as a percentage of net revenue, showing what portion of revenue is spent on marketing.

Formula

Marketing Cost % = ( Marketing Cost ÷ Net Revenue ) × 100

Formula Components

Metric	Definition
Marketing Cost	User-defined marketing costs from order cost entries
Net Revenue	Revenue after discounts and refunds

Metadata
Type	Percentage
Data Source	Shopify, Upstack Costs
Aggregation	Ratio

Example

Your store earned $250,000 in net revenue with $12,500 allocated to marketing costs:

Month	Net Revenue	Marketing Cost	Marketing Cost %
January	$78,000	$3,800	4.9%
February	$82,000	$4,200	5.1%
March	$90,000	$4,500	5.0%

How It Works

Marketing Cost % divides user-defined marketing costs by net revenue, showing what percentage of revenue goes to marketing expenses not captured by ad platform integrations. This includes influencer fees, affiliate commissions, sponsorships, and other marketing spend entered as order cost entries.

When to Use

Scenario	Action
Budget planning	Set target marketing cost % thresholds for profitability
Margin analysis	Monitor marketing’s impact on contribution margin
Cost benchmarking	Compare marketing spend across periods or segments
CM3 optimization	Reduce marketing cost % to improve contribution margin

Metric	Relationship
Marketing Cost	Numerator—total marketing spend
Net Revenue	Denominator—revenue after adjustments
CM2 Per Order	Margin before marketing costs are deducted
CM3 Per Order	Result after deducting marketing and agency fees

See all Contribution Margin metrics →

Marketing Cost Marketing Cost/Order

⌘I

​Formula

​Formula Components

​Example

​How It Works

​When to Use

​Related Metrics

Formula

Formula Components

Example

How It Works

When to Use

Related Metrics