sales question

[bazookaman]

So what is sales $$$ YTD vs. margin $$$ YTD. I mean I understand the whole sales thing. But what does it mean when you say margins to date. Or margin $ goals. Etc?

[C(-)ris]

Margins is how much profit you made on the sales.

[bazookaman]

So I guess you could have low sales numbers but record high margin numbers.

[mikebw]

bazookaman wrote:
So I guess you could have low sales numbers but record high margin numbers.

Or even high sales but low margins.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

Sales is revenue. Margin is profit.

[Ken Sp.]

If you sell an item for $100 and you bought it for $60. You have a 40% margin in retail parlance.
In other words you made $40 on the $100 sale. That is the gross margin, before you factor all other overhead expenses.

[NewtonMP2100]

isn't MARGIN the substitute for butter......???

[Wailer]

Sales is a dollar amount.

Margin is a percentage. Sales minus cost divided by total sales. It can't exceed 100% but it can be below zero.

Gross margins are after you subtract the cost of the sales. Operating margin is after you subtract the overhead (rent, salaries, etc) in addition to cost of sales. Net margin or profit margin is after you subtract all of the above and interest, taxes and depreciation. Basically, how much of each sales dollar goes to the bottom line.

[Speedy]

NewtonMP2100 wrote:
isn't MARGIN the substitute for butter......???

No, that would be MARDGIN.