Virtual CFO
Pricing and unit economics
Pricing and unit economics work breaks down what each product, order or customer actually costs and earns after fees, VAT treatment and cross-border shipping, so a business selling into the EU can set prices from real margin data rather than a guess or a single home-market number.
13-week cash forecast
Illustrative client · August 2026
EUR
- Cash today
- €244,220
- Lowest week ahead
- 239,800
- Largest outflow
- Payroll, 46,300
Illustrative. An example of the document, not a client's figures.
An average hides more across borders than within one
A single blended margin figure is misleading inside one country. Sell across several member states and it gets worse, because cross-border shipping and payment fees do not fall evenly on every market, so a genuinely profitable line in one country can be masking a loss-making one somewhere else. Breaking the number down to a SKU, a plan or a member state is what actually shows where the real profit sits.
The EU-specific pieces of the calculation
Goods sold across the bloc bring in cost of goods, marketplace and processing fees, cross-border shipping, and a VAT treatment that changes net revenue outright: whether a sale sits under the One Stop Shop scheme, which applies once cross-border B2C sales pass EUR 10,000 a year in total, or under the Import scheme for consignments valued at EUR 150 or under. A subscription business swaps that set for acquisition cost, support cost and lifetime value, tracked market by market rather than as one blended figure.
Testing a change before making it
With the baseline built, we run the numbers on a specific decision: a price rise in a single member state assuming volume holds, a marketplace fee change flowing through to net margin, a new tier priced in euros landing differently across markets with different price sensitivity. What comes back is a set of scenarios to choose between, not one number presented as the answer.
Feeding into what runs after
KPI design usually absorbs the contribution-margin figures this produces into an ongoing dashboard, and FP&A picks it up again once tracking margin by market monthly matters more than a one-off analysis. The pricing call itself is always yours; this only makes the maths behind it visible first.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: Pricing and unit economics
Does unit economics work account for the OSS and IOSS VAT schemes?
Yes. We factor in whether sales fall under the One Stop Shop threshold of EUR 10,000 a year in aggregate cross-border B2C sales, or the IOSS cap of EUR 150 per consignment, since both change net margin on a sale.
Can you calculate unit economics separately by member state?
Yes. We break out margin by market where shipping cost, VAT treatment or price sensitivity differ enough to matter, alongside a blended EU-wide view.
Do you help us decide our actual prices?
We build the margin model and show you what different price points do to profitability in each market. The final pricing decision is a business call that stays with you.
How often should unit economics be recalculated for a fast-growing EU business?
Quarterly is a reasonable baseline, though a business changing pricing, cost structure or entering a new member state benefits from checking it monthly.
How do you handle unit economics for a business with more than one product line?
Each product line gets its own unit economics calculated separately, since blending them into one average tends to hide which line is actually carrying the business and which one is quietly losing money. We flag which line needs attention first rather than presenting one flat average.
What data do you need to calculate unit economics?
Sales detail by product or customer, your cost of goods or delivery, and any platform or processing fees taken out of each sale.
Can this work for a subscription or SaaS pricing model?
Yes. For subscription businesses we build the model around customer acquisition cost, lifetime value and churn rather than per-unit product cost.
Will you tell us what to charge?
We show you the margin at different price points so you can decide. Setting the final price is a business call that stays with you.
What is included in pricing and unit economics?
Pricing and unit economics covers unit economics broken out by product, plan, SKU or customer segment and customer acquisition cost and payback period, where the data supports it. The exact scope is agreed and set out in writing before work starts, so you know precisely what is and is not covered before the first deliverable arrives.
Related services
- Virtual CFOKPI designA short list of the numbers that actually run your business, defined once and tracked consistently, instead of a dashboard nobody opens.
- Virtual CFOFP&AOngoing financial planning and analysis: budget-to-actual tracking, margin and cost analysis, and the monthly pack that explains why the numbers moved.
- Virtual CFOFractional CFOA senior finance lead who works your numbers on a part-time basis: monthly reviews, board and investor prep, and a second opinion before a big decision.
Industries
- Ecommerce (Amazon and Shopify)Bookkeeping for online sellers on Amazon, Shopify, Etsy and their own storefronts, built around clean payout and sales tax data.
- SaaSBookkeeping and reporting for subscription software businesses tracking recurring revenue, deferred revenue and burn.
- ManufacturingBookkeeping for small and mid-size manufacturers tracking raw materials, work in process and finished goods inventory.
Next step
Talk to the team that would run your books
A short call covers your setup, your software and what a first month would look like. You get a written scope and price after it.