Free discount decision tool

Discount Profit Impact Calculator

See how much contribution profit a discount gives up, then calculate the extra sales volume required to get back to the same profit.

Simple calculator

Enter the current sale economics

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Core question Current contribution profit is held constant. The calculator solves for the discounted sales volume required to produce that same total contribution.
Reading the result

A 10% discount can require far more than 10% additional sales.

Discounts come directly out of contribution profit while many variable costs stay unchanged. If a $100 sale carries $55 of variable cost, cutting price by $10 reduces contribution from $45 to $35. That is a 22.2% drop in contribution per sale even though the customer discount is only 10%.

The volume increase required depends on contribution margin, not just the discount percentage. Low-margin products and services generally need much larger sales increases to recover a given discount.

Contribution lossThe profit given up on each sale after the discount while variable costs continue.
Required sales liftExtra unit volume needed to produce the same total contribution as before the discount.
Discount guardrailThe maximum modeled discount before contribution margin falls below your threshold.