Imagine that, in the example above, the business has the following fixed costs: Why? This is because we have not yet taken account of the fixed costs of the business. Note that the total contribution of £180,000 is not the total profit made by the business. Lowering the variable cost per unit - i.e.Increasing the selling price per unit - i.e.Looking at the contribution per unit above (£12), you should be able to see that it can be increased by:
Using the formulae, we can perform the following calculation:Ĭontribution = £180,000 (i.e. Here is some information about a business that just sells one product: Let's look at a simple worked example of contribution. Total contribution can also be calculated as:Ĭontribution per unit x number of units sold Total Contribution is the difference between Total Sales and Total Variable CostsĬontribution = total sales less total variable costsĬontribution per unit = selling price per unit less variable costs per unit Let's start with a really important definition & formula It is used in calculating how many items need to be sold to cover all the business' costs (variable and fixed). It focuses on the returns (contribution) a business makes from each unit of product sold and whether that return is enough to allow the business to make money overall after taking account of its fixed costs.Ĭontribution looks at the profit made on individual products. What is contribution? The concept of contribution is a crucial one in business.