What's a typical retail markup?

Highly category-dependent. Grocery: 10-30%. Apparel: 100-200%. Restaurants on alcohol: 300-500%. Jewelry: 100-200%. Custom services: often 50-100% on parts.

My markup is 200% — is that a 200% margin?

No — 200% markup ≈ 67% margin (because the profit is 200% of cost but only 67% of selling price). 200% margin would mean profit is 2× selling price, mathematically impossible.

Markup Calculator

Markup percentage, margin percentage, and selling price from cost.

Result

Selling price

$37.50

Profit per unit$12.50
Markup %profit ÷ COST50.0%
Margin %profit ÷ SELLING PRICE33.3%
Cost-to-price ratio1.50×
— Common confusion —
Markup ≠ Margina 100% markup = 50% marginSame dollar profit, different denominator

How to use this calculator

Enter your cost (what you paid to acquire/make the item).
Type the markup percentage you want to apply.
See the resulting selling price, dollar profit, and the equivalent margin %.

About this tool

The most-confused pair of percentages in retail. **Markup** is profit relative to your cost — "I bought it for $25 and sold for $50, that's a 100% markup." **Margin** is profit relative to the selling price — "$25 profit on a $50 sale, that's a 50% margin." Same dollar amount, different denominator. Vendors quote markup ("we made 100%!") to sound more impressive; investors and analysts quote margin to compare across companies. This calculator shows both side by side so you can speak whichever language fits your audience.

Frequently asked

Margin is the more honest metric — it answers "what % of each sale is profit." Markup is what you do TO the cost. Switch between them depending on whether you're thinking from cost-side (markup) or revenue-side (margin).