Margin-based pricing without a spreadsheet

If your prices cannot be recalculated when costs move, they are not a policy — they are history.

You will be redirected to the Shopify app store.

Cost-based pricing gets dismissed as unsophisticated, usually by people whose catalogs are small enough to price by feel. At a few thousand SKUs, a rule you can re-apply beats intuition you cannot reproduce.

Start with accurate cost

None of this works if cost per item is empty or stale. Find the gaps first — filter for products where cost is empty — and make updating cost part of the same task that handles supplier increases.

Say which number you mean

Markup is measured against cost; margin is measured against price. A 100% markup is a 50% margin. Typing the wrong one into a bulk rule halves your intended price across the catalog, and it is the single most common pricing error at scale.

Different margins per category

One store-wide markup is blunt. Accessories, consumables and headline products rarely deserve the same treatment. One task per product type, each with its own percentage, keeps the policy explicit and reviewable.

Express the policy once as a task, then re-run it whenever costs move.

You will be redirected to the Shopify app store.

Round after, not before

Apply the rounding rule at the end of the calculation so the catalog ends in consistent decimals. Rounding the cost first and then applying a percentage puts the odd endings straight back.

Protect the floor during clearance

When a markdown ladder reaches its final stage, calculate from cost rather than from the current price. That way “never below cost plus 10%” is enforced by the rule instead of by hoping the percentages worked out.

Make it recurring

On paid plans the pricing task can repeat on a schedule, so products added since the last run inherit the policy automatically instead of keeping whatever number was typed when they were created.

Keep reading

Margin-based pricing on Shopify

Price from cost per item to a target margin, per category, with rounding.

Read more

What is profit margin?

Margin versus markup, with the table that prevents the expensive mistake.

Read more

Bulk edit cost per item on Shopify

Push supplier increases into cost per item, then reprice from cost to a target margin.

Read more

Ready to edit your Shopify catalog in bulk?

Install Bulk Product Edit by MITS and run your first bulk edit in minutes. Free plan available.

You will be redirected to the Shopify app store.