Distribution cost per sales dollar calculator
What share of revenue goes to moving the goods.
Formula
Distribution cost % = (total distribution costs ÷ total sales) × 100
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Distribution cost per sales dollar
7.57%
of sales spent on distribution
Worked example
$318,000 of distribution cost against $4,200,000 of sales is 7.57% of every sales dollar. Against a 42% gross margin, that is about eighteen cents of every margin dollar going to distribution.
When you reach for this
The version to use when comparing channels or accounts. Revenue-relative cost is the only way to compare a wholesale program against a DTC one on equal footing.
How to read the number
Include chargebacks and expedited freight in the cost side. Leaving them out is what makes a difficult retail account look cheaper to serve than it is.
Metrics that travel with it
Questions operators ask about this metric
What belongs in distribution costs?
Warehouse labor, outbound freight, packaging, and the compliance costs that come with shipping: chargebacks, expedited freight, and rework. Omitting the last group is what hides an expensive account.
Why measure against sales rather than units?
Because units are not comparable across channels that price differently. A revenue denominator puts a wholesale program and a DTC one on the same scale.
Should returns processing count?
Yes, in the channel that generated the return. DTC returns cost far more to handle than wholesale, and a blended figure erases the difference entirely.
How does this pair with cost per unit?
Cost per unit says whether the warehouse is improving. Cost per sales dollar says whether the business is. Watch both, because they can move in opposite directions.
Stop calculating this by hand
Every number on this page comes out of data you already have — orders, shipments, inventory, deductions. Endless keeps those in one source of truth instead of four exports, so the metric updates on its own and agents watch it for you.