Discount Profit Impact Calculator

Discount Profit Impact. Compare profit before and after a discount and calculate how many more orders are needed to earn the same total profit.

Formula reviewed September 1, 2026 · Runs locally in your browser

Normal selling price ($)Variable cost per order ($)Discount (%)

Enter your numbers and calculate.

Worked example

$80 price, $45 variable cost and a 20% discount lowers price to $64 and profit from $35 to $19. You need about 1.84 discounted orders to produce the profit of one full-price order.

What to do with the result

A promotion can increase revenue while lowering total profit. Use the required-order-lift number as the hurdle the discount has to clear.

Frequently asked questions

Why can a 20% discount cut profit by more than 20%?

The discount comes out of revenue while much of the cost stays unchanged.

What if discounted profit becomes negative?

Each discounted order loses money on the entered variable-cost model.