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Gross Margin · Gross Profit Margin
The percentage of revenue left after subtracting the direct costs of producing the product or service.
What it is
Gross Margin = (Revenue − Cost of Goods Sold) / Revenue × 100%
Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) includes only direct costs: materials, manufacturing, cloud infrastructure (for SaaS), licences. It does not include R&D, marketing, or general & administrative expenses.
Software companies typically have gross margins of 70–90% (near-zero marginal cost of an additional software copy). Manufacturing companies typically have gross margins of 20–40%. Retailers typically fall below 30%.
Why track it
Gross margin determines how large a "cushion" the company has to cover fixed costs (R&D, marketing, admin) and generate profit.
A declining gross margin is a warning signal — it may indicate competitive pricing pressure, rising input costs, or a mix-shift toward less profitable products.
Real-world example
Microsoft: Gross margin declined from 50.7% (2021) to 44.8% (2025). Reason: rapid growth of Azure (cloud infrastructure carries a lower margin than software). Still an excellent level, but the trend is being watched.