Does your next product sale earn a dollar?
A new free app: type in your price, cost, and discount and see how many extra bottles the sale has to sell.
Jeremy Young5 min readSpecial Edition: Alcohol Industry Insider
A free calculator for the sale you are about to run
A 20% discount sounds small. On a $30 bottle that costs you $12 to put in the customer's hands, it means you have to sell 450 bottles instead of 300 just to earn what a normal period earns. That is 150 extra bottles before the sale makes you a dollar.
The reason is the margin. You were making $18 a bottle and the discount takes $6 of it, so every bottle earns a third less and the volume has to cover the gap.
Today's free app does that math with your own numbers: the Discount Break-Even Calculator.
What you type in
Your price, your cost per bottle (or your gross margin), the discount you have in mind, and how many bottles you sell in a normal period. Add your average bottles per order and your shipping cost if you want the full comparison.
What you get back
The lift your discount needs, and the extra bottles that means
Profit at four guesses for how well the sale goes
Every discount from 5% to 40% on one table, with yours highlighted
Your discount priced against free shipping, buy 6 get 1, buy 12 get 1, and a gift with purchase
That last table is the one I'd look at first. On the same $30 bottle, the straight 20% needs 150 extra bottles. Free shipping on three-bottle orders needs 116. A $10 gift on a six-bottle order needs 31. Buy 12 get 1 free needs 18.
Here's what I'd do: run your next three promotions through it before you announce any of them. If the lift looks like more than your list can deliver, pick the cheaper offer.
It runs in your browser. Your numbers never leave your computer, and they are never put into Claude or any other AI. The page spells out exactly how. If you want your own version, the page also has a prompt that has Claude build you a copy, and a spreadsheet of the tables once you have signed up.
Open the Discount Break-Even Calculator
Reply and tell me which promotion you ran through it.
Work with Jeremy
Last year's playbook won't win this year's market.
Most beverage businesses are answering a down year with what worked in a good one: another discount, another email blast, the same trade calls. If you want a second set of eyes on yours, book a 30-minute strategy session with me. Bring the problem that's costing you the most right now, and we'll see how we could work together.
👉 Book a strategy session
30 minutes on Google Meet, Tuesday to Friday. Pick any open time on my calendar.
From the Editor:
I am always open to consulting, implementation, or brainstorming sessions. Just respond to this email, and I will get back to you shortly.
Alcohol Industry Insider Newsletter: the three-times-a-week growth newsletter for wine, beer, and spirits businesses that need smarter marketing, better sales, practical AI tools, and clear ideas they can implement now.
By Jeremy Young: serial entrepreneur, growth marketer, wine critic, and beverage industry insider.
Respond to this email with questions, ideas, or opportunities, and I will get back to you shortly!
Until next time,
Jeremy
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Work with Jeremy
Reading the plays is the easy part.
Changing what your team does on Monday morning is harder. Book a 30-minute strategy session with me, and we'll work out what to change first and how we could work together.
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