How it works
Most of what a store buys comes by the case, but it sells by the unit. To price a unit, you first need to know what one unit actually cost you, including anything else on the invoice that came with the case.
Example. A case of 24 drinks costs $28.80, plus $1.20 in freight. That's $30.00 for the case, or $1.25 per unit.
For a 35% margin: $1.25 ÷ 0.65 = $1.923.
Rounded up to end in .99, the shelf price is $1.99. At that price your margin is 37.2% and you make $0.74 a unit, or $17.76 on the case.
Packs versus units
What counts as a "unit" is whatever you ring up as one item. A case of four 6-packs is 24 units if you sell singles. If you only sell the 6-pack, set packs per case to 4 and units per pack to 1, and the price you get is for the whole 6-pack.
Why the price rounds up
The calculator always rounds up to the next price ending, never to the nearest one. Rounding $1.92 down to $1.89 would put you below the margin you asked for. Rounding up means the margin on the tag is always at or above your target.
If the rounded price feels too high for your shoppers, lower the target margin or try a different price ending. A price ending in 9 stays within ten cents of the exact price, while .99 can add almost a dollar.
What to count in the case cost
- Include the invoice price and any per-case charges like freight or a fuel surcharge.
- Subtract off-invoice discounts. Subtract rebates only if you're confident they'll arrive; leaving them out gives you a cushion.
- Leave out container deposits. In states with bottle deposit laws, the deposit is usually added at the register and refunded when the container comes back, so it passes through rather than counting as cost.
- Leave out sales tax. Shelf prices are normally shown before tax.
Common questions
- Should I use margin or markup to price?
- This calculator prices by margin because that's how gross profit shows up on your books. If you think in markup instead, the markup and margin calculator converts between them.
- The distributor gave me a suggested retail price. How do I check it?
- Enter your case cost and units here to get your cost per unit, then put that cost and the suggested price into the markup and margin calculator to see the margin it leaves you.
- How do I handle a buy-one-get-one or multi-buy deal?
- Work out the deal price per unit (for example, 2 for $3 is $1.50 each) and compare it to your cost per unit. If the supplier funds part of the deal, subtract that amount per case under discounts.
Last updated October 11, 2026.