- Problem
- Margin was a constant fight: every tool on the market calculated it its own way and none gave us the real figure by product, channel and country. Without that figure we didn't know how much we could spend on advertising without losing money, so we either spent blind or didn't spend at all.
- Decision
- Build our own way of measuring real margin, with everything deducted. Seeing it clearly showed us something we didn't expect: we had plenty of room to grow even if we gave some of it up along the way. We decided to spend more on advertising with one clear limit: each product's break-even point.
- Result
- Advertising stopped being a bet and became a decision with a known ceiling. We know how far we can push each product and how much it can grow before it stops being profitable.
Lesson Real margin isn't only for defending yourself. Sometimes it tells you that you can afford to give some of it up to grow.