Your Easy Entries for the PROFITS Center's Calculators

All of the PROFITS Center Calculators do their magic with just a few inputs from you, of things you already pretty well know, like sales margins and expenses.  

Remember, you just need some assumptions, best-guesstimates, places to start. 

And, since it works in real time, you will be able to see the "potential outcomes" immediately. This is especially useful once you have your first draft in, and are starting to make some tweaks and adjustments.

Change any of them at any time; immediately see the new outcomes! 

MONTHS - Your plan can start with any month of a 12 month period, like the upcoming month! Or, do a calendar year schedule, and start with January. Whatever.

Select your Start month from the drop-down menu. It will set the appropriate labels for the other columns.

Estimated SALES - Enter @Retail, without sales tax. These are your estimates, your assumptions, “best-guesstimates” about what monthly sales might be. Just get some entries in to start; you’ll be tweaking as you go. 

Here's the key: Round all entries to the thousands. 

Examples: $42,385.22 becomes 42.4;  $5,787.92 becomes 5.8;  $385.33 becomes 0.4

GROSS MARGIN % - Enter estimated Gross Margin (Gross Profit) percent for each month of the 12 month period. (This is to calculate your Gross Margin % and your Gross Margin dollars.)

Enter maintained margin, after markdowns. Can be up to one decimal place (tenths of percent).

Examples: Enter 44, becomes 44.0%;  enter 38.5, becomes 38.5%

EXPENSES - The PROFITS Center Calculators need just one entry for each expense "bucket." 

Variable expenses are entered as a percent of sales. Use whole numbers to one decimal place

Examples: Enter 12.5, becomes 12.5%; enter 10, becomes 10%

Fixed expenses are a flat $ amount for each month. (Take totals for the year and divide by 12 to get an estimate of yours.) Round all $ entries to nearest thousand.

Examples:  $8,673 becomes 8.7; $12,229 becomes 12.2

Why Expense "Buckets?" 

When projecting, it is easier to group expenses into 5 major categories, or "buckets". 

Variable expenses are a percent of sales; the monthly dollar amount rises and falls as sales fluctuate.

Fixed expenses average essentially the same dollar amount each month. 

If you've not yet set up these categories on your P&L, no problem. Just make a quick estimate so you can get started. Don't bog down; close counts! 

You always can "officially" set them up later. (For that, you also can use the SPEEDY Expense Analyzer.) 

Variable Expenses 

SELLING Expenses 

Examples: Store payroll, including taxes and benefits; Advertising; Website, social media; Transaction fees (e-commerce, payment processors, etc); Bags & boxes; Shipping or delivery costs; Special events; etc.

Fixed Expenses

OCCUPANCY Expenses - Fixed expense, average $ amount each month

Examples: Rent; Utilities; Maintenance; Security; CAM charges; etc.

ADMINISTRATIVE Expenses - Fixed expense, average $ amount each month

Examples: Management salaries (Owner; General Manager; Buyer) including taxes and benefits; Support staff/services (bookkeeping; IT; warehouse; marketing); Interest on borrowed money; Professional services (legal, accounting); Training; Travel; All other expenses not included elsewhere.

TAXES - Federal, State, Local taxes not included elsewhere. 
 

DEPRECIATION/AMORTIZATION - Fixed expense, average $ amount each month.

These are non-cash expenses, and must be kept separate in order to project the Cash Flow.

"Does this save my plans?"

Most of “the numbers” you might want to save – that is, your Monthly P&L – are generated by the PROFITS Center calculators based on the few entries you input (planned sales and margins, etc.)

The best way to "save" those, once you have developed a plan you like, is to just print out a hard copy for reference. Do that by using the “PRINT ALL“ button.
 

In fact, depending on your computer and/or browser, you may be able to simply email a pdf copy of the plan. 

The PROFITS Center calculators work "in the browser."

Your entries – and therefore the calculations for you – will be retained in the browser you use for input (e.g., Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Edge), subject to your settings for clearing its history.

No more worries if you are interrupted while working with it. When you resume, just use the same browser and device, and your plans will be there! (Even if it is a few days later, so long as you have not cleared the history in that browser.)

Time to update your plans?

Whenever you return, using the same device and browser, you should find each of your plans on its own page, ready for you to update your inputs.

Remember: This is just one of the retailer-friendly calculators at the PROFITS Center. There are two more that provide monthly detail for any 12-month period, plus special profit management tools for retailers. 

You'll also find all the training you'll need:15 proven, practical how-to resources that are used and loved by retailers around the world. All available 24/7, whenever you need them. Go here to get immediate access to it all. 👀

Your Easy Entries for the PROFITS Center's Calculators

All of the PROFITS Center Calculators do their magic with just a few inputs from you, of things you already pretty well know, like sales margins and expenses.  

Remember, you just need some assumptions, best-guesstimates, places to start. 

And, since it works in real time, you will be able to see the "potential outcomes" immediately. This is especially useful once you have your first draft in, and are starting to make some tweaks and adjustments.

Change any of them at any time; immediately see the new outcomes! 

MONTHS - Your plan can start with any month of a 12 month period, like the upcoming month! Or, look ahead to the start of the next season. Whatever.

Select your Start month from the drop-down menu. It will set the appropriate labels for the other columns.

Estimated SALES - Enter @Retail, without sales tax. These are your estimates, your assumptions, “best-guesstimates” about what monthly sales might be. 

Just get some entries in to start; you’ll be tweaking as you go. 

Here's the key: Round all entries to the thousands. 

Examples: $42,385.22 becomes 42.4;  $5,787.92 becomes 5.8;  $385.33 becomes 0.4

GROSS MARGIN % - Enter estimated Gross Margin (Gross Profit) percent for each month. (This is to calculate your Gross Margin % and your Gross Margin dollars.)

Enter maintained margin, after markdowns. Can be up to one decimal place (tenths of percent).

Examples: Enter 44, becomes 44.0%;  enter 38.5, becomes 38.5%

OPERATING EXPENSES (rounded) - Enter the total monthly expenses likely for each month. This includes salary and payroll, rent, utilities, interest, fees for online services, professional services, supplies, travel, etcetera.

Remember, close counts! Use estimates. This is just your first draft. 

You can easily make changes and adjustments. That's the point!

Optional Entries  

Other (Non-Mdse) Revenue (rounded) – If you have revenue from rentals, classes or events, or other sources not related to selling merchandise, enter the expected revenue from those functions in the appropriate month.

Expenses of Other Revenue (rounded) – Enter the expenses that would be incurred to generate the Other (non-merchandise) Revenue in the appropriate month.