COS Calculator (Cost of Sales)

COS is a key metric for e-commerce. It shows what percentage of revenue goes to ads. Lower COS = higher efficiency.

Total ad spend for the selected period

Revenue directly attributable to campaigns

CZ/SK kontext & benchmarky

0-15% PNO: Excellent
Vysoká efektivita, rezerva na další růst
15-25% PNO: Good
Healthy e-shop with room for optimization
25-35% COS: Average
Still profitable, but margins are narrowing
35%+ COS: High
Watch profitability, need to reduce costs or increase prices/AOV

How to Optimize

  • Increase AOV: cross-sell, upsell, bundles › same costs, higher revenue › lower COS
  • Lifetime value: if you have high LTV, you can afford higher COS on the first purchase
  • Product mix: products with higher margins allow for more aggressive COS
  • Retention marketing: email, SMS remarketing have lower COS than cold traffic
Your COS
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How we calculate it

COS (%) = (Ad Spend / Revenue) × 100

Example

You invested $20,000 in ads and generated $100,000 revenue:

COS = (20000 / 100000) × 100 = 20%

20% of your revenue goes to ad costs.

Why is it important?

COS is often more intuitive than ROAS for business owners. It directly shows what portion of turnover "disappears" into advertising channels.

If you have a 30% margin and your COS is 20%, you have 10% left to cover all other costs and profit. But if your COS is 35%, you are in direct loss on every order.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Should I include agency fees and production in COS?

From a business owner's perspective (Business COS), definitely YES. Ads cost you fees too, not just credit. However, for optimization in Ads manager (Media COS), look only at direct spend to avoid skewing data.

What is the difference between PNO and COS?

They are the same. PNO (Podíl Nákladů na Obratu) is a common CZ/SK term. COS (Cost of Sales) or ACOS (Amazon Cost of Sales) are English equivalents. The formula is identical.

Why COS sometimes lies (COS vs POAS)?

COS looks at revenue, not profit. If you have product A with 5% margin and product B with 50% margin, the same 10% COS means a loss for product A, but super profit for product B. That's why advanced e-shoppers track POAS (Profit on Ad Spend).

Why does it matter?

COS is the "holy grail" of e-commerce profitability. Unlike ROAS (which is an abstract ratio, e.g. 5:1), COS tells you exactly what % of every order you "handed over" to Google or Facebook.

Keeping COS under control is critical for cash flow. If you have a 30% margin and your COS is 25%, only 5% remains to cover warehouse, rent, and people. That is dangerously low. The COS calculator helps you set limits you must not cross in campaigns.

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