# SmartSeller Help Center and KPI guide > Canonical page: https://www.gosmartseller.com/help-center · This file is a machine-readable version for AI assistants and crawlers. Last updated: 2026-10-19 ## Getting started 1. **Install from the Shopify App Store.** SmartSeller opens inside the Shopify admin. The last 12 months of orders are imported in the background, and the first numbers appear in minutes. Large stores can take longer. 2. **Add what things cost.** Product costs come from the "Cost per item" field in Shopify. For anything missing, the Tasks tab lists the gaps by impact. Monthly fixed costs can be entered as one number, a detailed breakdown, or in plain words ("rent is 2,400, payroll 6,000"). 3. **Read the first insight.** The Profitability cockpit shows how much is still needed to break even this month, the minimum markup and the expense headroom, each with the action that moves it. The precision score at the top of the app shows how complete the cost data is. Every finished task raises it. ## KPI guide All figures come from the store's Shopify data plus the costs the merchant enters. ### Store profitability #### Contribution Contribution is what's left from your sales after product costs and per-order costs (payment fees, shipping, pick-and-pack, discounts, refunds). It's the money available to pay your fixed costs. - **Calculation:** net sales − product cost − variable costs. - **How to read it:** it should be comfortably larger than monthly fixed costs. If it falls toward them, profit is about to disappear. - **What to do:** raise prices on products below their floor, cut discount depth, or renegotiate product and shipping costs. - **Check:** weekly for trends, monthly to close the month. #### Net profit Net profit is your contribution minus your fixed costs (rent, payroll, software, agencies, ad spend you enter). It's the real result of the business. - **Calculation:** contribution − fixed operating costs. Per product, each SKU carries its share of overhead in proportion to its sales. - **How to read it:** as a share of revenue, not only in dollars. A growing store with a shrinking net margin is buying growth with profit. - **What to do:** start with products losing money on every sale, then expense headroom. - **Check:** weekly, and at every month-end. - **Note:** net profit is not cash. Sale money and bank deposits arrive on different dates, and stock bought is cash out before it is a cost. Taxes (federal, state and sales tax) are not deducted. #### Left to break even Left to break even is how much more you need to sell this month to cover all your costs. Once it reaches zero, every extra sale is profit. - **Calculation:** fixed costs not yet covered ÷ contribution margin. Also shown: the projected date to cross it at the current pace, and the approximate units it takes. - **How to read it:** break-even is zero profit, not profit. If the projected date slips past month-end, the month closes at a loss. - **What to do:** push Class A profit champions. The cockpit shows which products close the gap fastest. - **Check:** weekly during the month. It resets on the 1st. #### Minimum markup Minimum markup is the smallest multiplier over product cost that still covers per-order costs and each product's share of overhead. - **Calculation:** from the real cost structure: product cost, variable costs as a share of price, and fixed costs as a share of revenue. - **How to read it:** compare it with the current average markup. Products below the minimum lose money on every sale, even when they sell well. - **What to do:** cost × minimum markup = floor price. If the floor is above what the market will pay: competitive price ÷ minimum markup = the most to pay the supplier. - **Check:** monthly or quarterly. #### Floor price Floor price is the lowest price at which a product breaks even after its product cost, fees, shipping, returns and its share of overhead. - **How to read it:** products priced under their floor appear in the list of products losing money, ranked by the profit they lost last month. - **What to do:** reprice to floor in one click (written back to Shopify, with undo), or retire the product. - **Check:** after any cost change, and before every promotion. #### Expense headroom (maximum expenses) Expense headroom is the most you can spend on fixed costs this month and still break even, based on your average margins. - **How to read it:** use it before hiring, adding a tool or raising the ad budget. A new expense that does not fit must be paid for by better margins first. - **What to do:** cut or postpone fixed costs, or raise contribution through pricing. - **Check:** monthly, and before any new recurring cost. ### Promotions #### Safe discount Safe discount is the deepest discount a product (or the whole offer) can take before it sells below cost. - **How to read it:** an offer's biggest safe discount is limited by its weakest product. One thin-margin product can make a whole sale unsafe. - **What to do:** take the losing product out of the offer, or lower the discount. SmartSeller will not create an offer that sells below cost. #### Units to break even (offer) Units to break even is how many units an offer must sell to earn at least what the same days would have earned at full price. - **How to read it:** compare it with the normal pace. Needing 1.8× the usual sales means the discount must really move volume. - **What to do:** reduce the discount, shorten the offer, or limit it to products with a large safe discount. ### Acquisition #### Minimum ROAS Minimum ROAS is the revenue every $1 of ad spend must bring back for a campaign to break even. - **Calculation:** 1 ÷ contribution margin. No ad account connection is needed. - **How to read it:** campaigns below this number lose money, however good they look in the ad platform. - **What to do:** use it as the target when setting up a campaign and as the cut-off when reviewing one. - **Check:** monthly, and when planning a campaign. #### Maximum CAC Maximum CAC is the most you can pay to acquire a new customer and still break even on their first order. - **Calculation:** the contribution of an average first order. - **How to read it:** above it, the store is betting on repeat purchases to recover the cost. - **What to do:** keep acquisition and referral incentives below it. Raise it by increasing first-order value (bundles, gateway products). ### Inventory #### ABC classification (by profit) ABC classification groups your products by their share of profit: A = the products that generate ~80% of your profit, B = the next ~15%, C = the last ~5%. We also show the revenue view, so you can spot products that sell well but earn little. - **How to read it:** protect stock and margins on A products. C products are candidates for clearance. - **What to do:** use "Sell well, earn less" to find bestsellers that need repricing. - **Check:** monthly; quarterly for decisions to discontinue. #### Days to zero Days to zero is how many days of stock you have left at your current pace: on hand ÷ units sold per day (last 30 days). - **How to read it:** if days to zero is shorter than the supplier's lead time, the product runs out before a reorder arrives. Lead time is set per product (default: 14 days). - **What to do:** prep the reorder for profitable products first. - **Check:** weekly. #### Dead stock Dead stock is Class C products that sold nothing in 90 days, or that hold more than 180 days of stock at their current pace. We show the cash tied up in them. - **What to do:** group them into a clearance collection and discount them within their safe discount. - **Check:** monthly. ### Demand #### New vs. returning vs. high-value customers The new vs. returning vs. high-value split shows revenue, average lifetime value and orders per customer for each group. High-value = 3+ orders, or spent above the average repeat buyer. - **What to do:** see what each group buys first, and build offers and campaigns around those products. #### Gateway products Gateway products are the products that most often start a customer's first order, and what those customers buy next. - **What to do:** feature gateway products in acquisition campaigns. Bundle them with what customers buy next. #### Profit by region Profit by region shows orders, revenue, net profit and shipping cost per order by state or city. - **What to do:** regions with revenue but thin margins usually point to absorbed shipping costs. Adjust free-shipping thresholds or where ads run. #### Win-back segment A win-back segment is the group of high-value customers who haven't ordered in 60+ days, with the revenue at stake. - **What to do:** create the segment in Shopify and send a win-back campaign from the email tool. ### Data quality #### Precision score Precision score is how complete your cost data is, from 0 to 100%. It rises only when your data actually improves. - **Calculation:** product costs (50% weight: share of 30-day revenue with a known cost) + monthly expenses (31.25%: share of the month's expenses confirmed) + variable cost rules (18.75%: rules defined). - **What to do:** work through the Tasks tab. Each task shows how many points it adds. ## Plans and billing - **How am I billed?** All plans are billed through Shopify and appear on the Shopify invoice. SmartSeller never asks for a card. - **Is there a trial?** Every new install gets 14 days of Growth features on its own data, then moves to Free unless a paid plan is chosen. - **Are there per-order fees or overage charges?** No. Plans have fair-use order bands based on a 3-month average. A store that grows past its band gets a plan change suggestion. Order imports never stop. - **Can I change or cancel my plan?** Yes, at any time from the app's Pricing page. Uninstalling cancels the subscription. Shopify handles proration and refunds under its billing rules. - **Are there annual plans?** Yes. Annual billing includes two months free. ## Data and privacy - **What does SmartSeller read?** Orders, products, inventory, discounts and the customer fields needed for cohort and region analysis. Full list: https://www.gosmartseller.com/privacy - **What does it change?** Only what the merchant confirms: prices, product costs, discounts, tags, collections, customer segments and draft purchase orders. Each change can be undone. - **Is store data used to train AI models?** No. - **What happens on uninstall?** SmartSeller stops reading the store immediately and deletes store data within 30 days of Shopify's deletion request, which Shopify sends 48 hours after uninstall. Security details: https://www.gosmartseller.com/security ## Troubleshooting - **Numbers don't match Shopify Analytics.** Shopify Analytics shows sales; SmartSeller shows profit after costs. The cockpit's precision banner lists which costs are still estimated. - **A product shows no profit.** It has no cost. Add it in Shopify ("Cost per item") or in the Tasks tab. - **History is still importing.** Large stores can take a few hours. The app works meanwhile, and numbers fill in as data arrives. - **Clicked something by mistake.** Every action shows an Undo option, and every change SmartSeller makes in your store is listed in the app's Activity log. ## Contact - Support: support@gosmartseller.com - Security reports: security@gosmartseller.com - Privacy requests: privacy@gosmartseller.com