Cost Per Unit: Average Product Cost Per Item Sold

The average cost of goods sold per unit sold.

Formula

Cost Per Unit = COGS ÷ Units Sold

Formula Components

Metric	Definition
COGS	Total cost of goods sold including manufacturing or purchase costs
Units Sold	Total quantity of individual product units sold

Metadata
Type	Currency
Data Source	Shopify
Aggregation	Average

Example

Your store sold 8,500 units this month with a total COGS of $42,500:

Metric	Value
Total COGS	$42,500
Units Sold	8,500
Cost Per Unit	$5.00

How It Works

Cost Per Unit divides your total cost of goods sold by the number of units sold. This gives you the average cost to produce or acquire each unit in your catalog. Unlike COGS Per Order, this metric focuses on individual items rather than order baskets.

When to Use

Scenario	Action
Evaluating product margins	Compare cost per unit against selling price
Pricing decisions	Ensure prices cover unit costs plus target margin
Supplier negotiations	Benchmark against industry standards
Inventory optimization	Identify high-cost products to prioritize

Metric	Relationship
COGS	Numerator—total cost divided to get per-unit average
Units Sold	Denominator—count of items sold
COGS Per Order	Similar metric but per order instead of per unit
Gross Profit	Revenue impact after subtracting product costs

See all Performance metrics →

MER Avg Days Between Orders

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​Formula

​Formula Components

​Example

​How It Works

​When to Use

​Related Metrics

Formula

Formula Components

Example

How It Works

When to Use

Related Metrics