A price that stays in the black
Per-channel price — computed by a measure
"RRP minus a discount" isn't a price — it's a hope. Shopify takes one commission, Amazon another, wholesale a third; the same number is profit on one channel and a loss on the next. Here's the method that builds price from unit economics — separately for every channel.
A per-channel price is a measure: cost plus logistics, payment and target margin, divided by (1 − channel fee), then checked against RRP. Below — the formula, the DAX measures, and a live recompute.
01 The problem: "RRP minus a discount"
The most common way to price is to take a recommended retail price and discount it "so it sells". The trouble is that every channel has its own economics: marketplace commission, logistics, fulfillment, payment processing. The same selling price can be profit on Shopify and a loss on Amazon — and nobody notices until the month closes.
Doing it by hand for every SKU on every channel is impossible, so prices get set "by eye" and the loss is discovered after the fact, from the overall profit, when it's already too late.
02 The principle: price from unit economics
The method builds price "bottom up": take the cost, add logistics, payment and the profit you want — and "unwind" it through each channel's commission. The result is a price at which you're guaranteed in the black on every channel. Hit "Refresh" — recompute across all SKUs and channels:
| SKU | Brand | RRP | Cost | Shopify % | Shopify | Amazon % | Amazon | Etsy % | Etsy | Walmart % | Walmart |
|---|
* green — within the RRP band; amber ▼ — below RRP; red ▲ — above RRP.
03 RRP control — automatic
Price from economics is half the job; the other half is not breaking the recommended retail price. The system highlights where the computed price has climbed above RRP (risking a put-off buyer or a breach of the brand agreement) or dropped below it (leaving margin on the table for nothing). Filter to "only out of RRP" — that's your manual-review list.
04 What it changes
Prices stop being guesswork. Bring in a new purchase batch at a different cost, or a channel raises its fee — hit "Refresh" and every price recomputes while preserving the target margin. The loss-making items you used to discover at month-end are gone — the loss is visible immediately, at the pricing stage.
01 What unit cost is made of
"Cost" in the calculation isn't just the purchase price. Everything spent before the item ships to the buyer has to be allocated per unit:
- Purchase price — from the latest batch (or a weighted average);
- Inbound logistics — batch shipping ÷ quantity;
- Fulfillment / packaging / labeling — per unit;
- Target margin — the profit you want per unit (can be set as a coefficient of cost).
02 The per-channel price formula
A marketplace commission is taken off the selling price, not the cost. So you can't just add up the amount you want "in hand" — you have to "unwind" it by dividing by (1 − fee):
the result is rounded; each channel has its own fee
One formula — four prices, because the fee is substituted from a reference table per channel. Amazon raises its fee — only the Amazon price changes.
03 The price measure
Price is a measure in the channel's context. The fee and surcharges are pulled from reference tables; the margin from a per-SKU or per-category setting:
// Computed price for the current channel Channel Price = VAR _base = [Unit cost] + [Unit logistics] + [Unit payment] + [Target margin $] VAR _fee = [Channel fee] // 0..1, from reference VAR _raw = DIVIDE( _base, 1 - _fee ) RETURN MROUND( _raw, 0.1 ) // round to 10¢
"Target margin $" can be either a fixed amount or a coefficient of cost — in which case pricier items earn proportionally more.
04 RRP control — a status measure
The cell color is a measure comparing the computed price to RRP and the tolerance. Above RRP — "above", clearly below — "below", inside the corridor — "in":
// Status vs RRP (12% tolerance down, 2% up) RRP Status = VAR _p = [Channel Price] VAR _rrp = [RRP] RETURN SWITCH( TRUE(), _p > _rrp * 1.02, "above", // above RRP — risk _p < _rrp * 0.88, "below", // below — margin left behind "in" )
05 Why it's reliable
Channel fees, logistics and payment rates, RRP tolerances — all in reference tables. "Refresh" pulls fresh fees and the cost from the latest batches and recomputes every price at once. No manual editing of formulas cell by cell.
Let's reprice your catalog from unit economics
In a free review we take a few of your SKUs and show the real price on every channel including fees — and where you're quietly in the red right now. No obligation.