9 October 2018

How to increase the margin on sales

margin on sales

How much do you sell your product for? Do you know how much it costs? If you answer yes to both of these questions, then you know what is your margin on sales. This concept defines the difference between the retail price of a good or service and its total costs, including both direct costs, such as raw materials, and indirect costs, such as personnel or logistics costs.

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What variables influence the sales margin?

Before considering how to increase the margin on sales, it is important to understand the factors that can influence its fluctuations.. The margin on sales does not always remain unchanged and, in fact, is often affected by external factors, such as:

  • The approval of new regulatory measures which complicate the number of procedures required for the export of a product or the import of the raw materials necessary for its manufacture.
  • The imposition of an additional tax, as a result of political measures introduced following a change in government.
  • Increase in the cost of fuels, which affect the transport and distribution function.
  • The shortage of certain components, which are necessary to be able to produce the good or offer the service.
  • Natural disasters or economic crises, which affect the demand for the product or service.

It can also increase or decrease as a result of changes in internal factors. Some of them would be the following:

  • Increase in the cost of raw materials.
  • The need to add new staff to the workforce, with a consequent increase in staff costs.
  • Increase in hourly rate for overtime, due to an update in the applicable collective agreement.
  • Breakage of one of the equipment of production, which forces investment in new machinery.
  • Need to adapt processes to current demand by incorporating new, more expensive technology.

How to increase the profit margin on sales?

There is a very simple way to increase the margin on sales, which is by raising the price at which the product or service is offered. However, the, that the margin per unit sold growing would not imply a proportional increase in revenue since, as a consequence of this measure, customers could be lost; especially when it is not compensated with new benefits for consumers who will have to fork out a larger sum.

The most effective way to increase the profit margin on sales is by driving savings within the organisation.. Savings policies can be approached in various ways, although some of the most effective ones include the following:

  • Energy saving policies, to cut electricity costs. They could start by offering training to all employees on responsible consumption.
  • Recycling policies, to promote the efficient use of available resources and prevent their waste, supporting the company's sustainability objective. They can be applied, for instance, to the reuse of printer ink cartridges or to minimising the use of disposable coffee cups in the office, replacing them with glass or ceramic ones.
  • Policies of Flexible remuneration, through which money wages are combined with other benefits, such as Ticket Restaurant or Nursery Ticket.

Finally, it should not be forgotten that Another way to take control of the factors influencing the margin on sales is to centralise invoices.. Petrol expenditure is one of those that can be centralised, receiving invoices for refuelling all company vehicles at once and on a single document, thus improving their management. Ticket Gasolina allows you to achieve this while securing significant discounts with every fuel top-up.

Edenred Spain

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