> ## Knowledge Base Index > Fetch the complete knowledge base index at: https://help.cloudbridal.com/sitemap.xml > Use this file to discover available pages before exploring further. > Pure-Markdown content can be obtained by appending a '.md' suffix to the content URLs listed in the sitemap (without the trailing slash). # Tracking Profitability CloudBridal tracks profitability at every level — from individual items to vendor relationships to overall cash flow. This guide explains how the system captures costs, calculates margins, and helps you understand where your store is making (or losing) money. ## How Pricing and Costs Work Every inventory variant (a specific size/color combination) has three price fields: * **Wholesale Price** — what you pay the vendor for the item * **Retail Price** — the standard customer-facing price * **Sale Price** — an optional promotional price that overrides retail when set Behind the scenes, the system also tracks the **actual cost** you paid for each unit of stock. When you receive inventory — whether through a purchase order or manual entry — the cost basis is recorded on each stock unit. This matters because the actual cost you paid may differ from the listed wholesale price (e.g., you negotiated a discount, or paid shipping). ## Understanding Margins CloudBridal distinguishes between two types of margins: * **Catalog Margin** — the difference between your selling price and the vendor's listed wholesale price. This tells you what your pricing *strategy* looks like on paper. * **Realized Margin** — the difference between your selling price and what you *actually paid* for the item. This is your true profit. Both are useful. If your catalog margins look healthy but your realized margins are lower, it means you're paying more than wholesale (perhaps due to shipping, rush fees, or vendor price increases). ## Special Orders vs. From Inventory Sales How CloudBridal tracks profitability depends on the type of sale, which is an important distinction in the bridal industry. **From Inventory sales** — When a customer buys a sample or in-stock item directly from your floor, the system consumes specific inventory units and records their actual cost. This means margin calculations for these sales are precise — they reflect exactly what you paid for the item that was sold. **Special Orders** — When a customer tries on a sample and orders a new gown from the vendor, there are no inventory units consumed (the sample stays on the floor). In this case, the system uses the variant's wholesale price as the estimated cost. This is usually close, but may not account for vendor-specific pricing, shipping, rush fees, or other charges that affect the true cost. **If you use purchase orders for special orders**, the Purchase Order Margins report becomes your most accurate profitability tool — it compares the actual amount paid to the vendor (including all additional fees) against what the customer paid. This gives you the real margin, not an estimate based on wholesale price. In short: stores doing mainly From Inventory sales get precise margins automatically. Stores doing mainly Special Orders should pay extra attention to their purchase order data for accurate profitability tracking. ## Reports for Tracking Profitability ### Item-Level: Inventory Item Margins Shows margin and markup for every item currently in stock (your samples and floor inventory). Key columns include catalog margin %, realized margin %, and markup multiplier (e.g., 2.5x means you sell at 2.5 times your cost). This is most useful for evaluating your pricing strategy on stocked items. Variants with no costed stock show a blank margin rather than a figure — there's no cost to measure against. If you see blanks you didn't expect, those items are missing wholesale prices. ### Sale-Level: Order Margins Shows profit on each completed sale. Adjustments and refunds are folded into their parent orders so you see the true net value of each transaction. For From Inventory sales, the cost comes from the actual stock units consumed. For Special Orders, the wholesale price is used as an estimate — see the section above for why this distinction matters. ### Purchase Order-Level: Purchase Order Margins Compares what you actually paid the vendor (including additional fees) against what customers paid. This is the most accurate margin view for special order businesses, since it captures the real vendor cost rather than relying on the listed wholesale price. ### Vendor-Level: Vendor Performance A summary of each vendor's contribution to your business — how many items they have in your store, total sales generated, average markup, and total discounts applied. This report shows all vendors, even those with zero sales, so you can spot inactive relationships. Markup here is profit over cost: an item you buy at $1,000 and sell at $2,600 shows 160%, not 260%. ### Cash Flow: Cash Flow Summary A cash-basis view of money in and out — total payments collected, tips, refunds, and net cash flow. Broken down by payment method, month, item type, customer type, and sales associate. This isn't a margin report — it tells you about liquidity rather than profitability. ### Capital Efficiency: Slow Movers and Stock Aging Two views of stock that's tying up money without generating sales. Both treat stock as **at risk** when it has been in the shop 18 months or more with no sale in the last 12. * The **Slow Movers** tool (Inventory Tools, in Reports & Tools) leads with at-risk stock and shows each item's age, cost value on hand, and sales over the trailing 12 months. Use it as a working list for what to discount, return to vendors, or dispose of. * The **Stock Aging & Markdown** report (Ultimate) bands your whole stock by age with retail and cost value, and lets you model what a given markdown would do to the prices in a band. ## Practical Tips * **Keep wholesale prices updated** — margin reports rely on accurate wholesale prices. If a vendor raises prices, update the wholesale price on your items so your margin calculations stay accurate. * **Use purchase orders for special orders** — if your store does primarily special orders, entering purchase orders and tracking their costs is the best way to get accurate margin data. Without POs, the system can only estimate based on wholesale price. * **Review margins by vendor** — some vendors may consistently deliver better margins than others. The Vendor Performance report makes this easy to compare. * **Watch for slow movers** — samples and stocked items sitting on your floor for months represent tied-up capital. The Slow Movers tool identifies candidates for markdowns or vendor returns. * **Compare catalog vs. realized margins** — if there's a significant gap, investigate why your actual costs differ from listed wholesale prices. Common causes include shipping charges, rush fees, or outdated wholesale prices.