Supplement Unit Economics & cltv Calculator
UK supplement brands enjoy some of the most attractive unit economics in D2C e-commerce: high gross margins, low return rates, and strong repeat purchase potential. But those advantages only translate into actual profit if your customer acquisition cost, LTV model, and contribution margin stack are correctly understood and deliberately managed.
What This Calculator Outputs
Per-Order Contribution Margin
CM1, CM2 and CM3 on every order: the foundation of your LTV model
Breakeven ROAS (3 Levels)
Know exactly what ROAS covers COGS, covers fulfilment, and covers marketing
Fixed Cost Per Unit
Allocate compliance, tech and staff costs across your active order volume
Net Profit Per Kept Order
The single number that determines whether scaling acquisition will make you money
LTV, CAC & Payback Period
Connect first-order contribution to customer lifetime value, with purchase frequency modelling, CM2 payback period, LTV:CAC ratio and cohort-level revenue projections
Who This Is For
This tool is designed for UK supplement brand founders, CMOs, heads of growth, and e-commerce finance leads who need to validate that their margin structure can support the acquisition costs they're running or planning, and how that per-order contribution feeds into LTV, CAC payback and long-term customer profitability. It's particularly useful if you're:
- Sense-checking whether the ROAS targets set in Google Ads are grounded in your actual contribution margin, rather than a gross margin figure that ignores fulfilment costs, platform fees and write-offs
- Running a unit economics review before increasing acquisition spend or entering a new paid channel
- Modelling the margin impact of a new product launch, formulation change, or shift in average order value
- Preparing investor or retailer materials that require a clear per-order profitability model alongside your LTV projections
Kiezo Growth
Build Your Supplements Unit Economics + CLTV Model
Answer a few questions about your business and we'll pre-load both the unit economics and lifetime value calculators with your real numbers. Takes 3–4 minutes. Skip anything you don't know — we'll use sensible benchmarks in its place.
Returning user? Upload your saved config to reload your numbers instantly — no need to go through the questions again.
Could not read that file. Please use a saved Kiezo config JSON.
Let's start with your sales numbers.
This model works on a per-unit or per-SKU-range basis. Supplements businesses often carry product lines with very different margin profiles — a protein powder and a collagen supplement will have different COGS structures, different repeat rates, and different AOVs. Model them separately rather than blending across ranges, or the output won't be actionable for either — and blended inputs will distort both the unit economics and the LTV model that follows.
Any field you leave blank will use a benchmark default. You'll see exactly which defaults were applied when you reach the calculator.
How many units do you sell per month?
Leave blank → benchmark default: 1,000 units/month
What is your full-price average order value?
Enter your AOV before any discounts are applied
£
Leave blank → benchmark default: £50
On average, what discount do customers get?
Across sale periods, promo codes and offers — if none, enter 0
%
Leave blank → benchmark default: 10%
What does it cost to make or buy the product?
What percentage of your selling price is the cost to make or buy the product?
This is your COGS — e.g. if your full-price AOV is £100 and the product costs you £35, enter 35
%
Leave blank → benchmark default: 15%
Tell us about your returns.
What percentage of your orders are returned?
Use your last 90-day return rate if available — supplements brands typically see 2–8%, though this varies by product type and whether you accept opened returns
%
Leave blank → benchmark default: 5%
What does it cost you to process each return?
Includes postage, repackaging, inspection — not the refund itself
£
Leave blank → benchmark default: £5.00 per return
What percentage of returned units can't be resold and are written off?
Damaged, soiled, or unsaleable items — enter 0 if you resell everything returned
%
Leave blank → benchmark default: 10%
How much does it cost to get orders out the door?
What is your average shipping cost per unit dispatched?
Your courier cost per parcel — not what you charge the customer
£
Leave blank → benchmark default: £5.00 per unit
What do you pay per month for warehousing and fulfilment?
Enter only the portion attributable to this product or range — leave at 0 if you fulfil in-house with no direct cost
£
Leave blank → benchmark default: £2,000/month
Payment processing and BNPL fees.
What percentage does your payment gateway charge per transaction?
Stripe is typically 1.4–2.9%. Check your dashboard if unsure
%
Leave blank → benchmark default: 2%
What percentage of your customers pay via BNPL — Klarna or similar?
Supplements brands typically see 10–25% BNPL adoption — enter 0 if you don't offer it
%
Leave blank → benchmark default: 20%
What fee does your BNPL provider charge you per transaction?
Klarna typically charges merchants 2.99–5.99%. Check your provider agreement
%
Leave blank → benchmark default: 6%
What are you spending to acquire customers?
How much do you spend on paid acquisition per month, for this SKU/range?
Include the portion of agency fees, creative production, and attribution tooling attributable to this SKU or range — not your entire business spend. Platform media spend alone is acceptable, but will produce a less complete NCAC than your true all-in cost of acquisition.
£
Leave blank → benchmark default: £10,000/month
For NCAC to be accurate, your new customer count must come from your back-end data — Shopify orders, your CRM, or your order management system. Platform-reported new customer figures (Google Ads, Meta) overcount: they use cookie and device signals rather than your actual customer database, and they claim credit across channels simultaneously. Pull the number from your back end, not your ads dashboard.
How many new customers did that spend acquire?
Most brands track this monthly, but use whatever period matches your acquisition spend figure above. Pull from Shopify, your CRM, or your order management system — not your ads platform. This figure unlocks your NCAC and feeds directly into the LTV model.
Leave blank → benchmark default: 0 (NCAC not calculated)
Fixed overhead attributable to this range.
What are your monthly fixed costs attributable to this product or range?
Salaries, software, rent, agency fees — only include what you'd apportion to this SKU or range. Leave at 0 to evaluate on contribution margin only
£
Leave blank → benchmark default: £2,000/month
How do your customers buy over time?
LTV model inputs — these two questions drive your lifetime value calculation. Margins, AOV, and acquisition spend are inherited automatically from your answers above.
On average, how many times per year does a customer place a repeat order?
Think about your active, retained customers — not first-time buyers. Supplements brands typically see 4–8 repeat orders per year, driven by replenishment cycles
×/yr
Leave blank → benchmark default: 4 orders/year
On average, how long does a customer keep buying from you?
Your average customer lifespan — i.e. from first to last purchase. If unsure, a typical supplements brand sees 1–2 years, with subscription-style products often retaining longer
yrs
Leave blank → benchmark default: 2.5 years
One final refinement for your LTV model.
This step is optional — skip it and we'll apply a sensible benchmark. The calculator lets you adjust all of these in detail once it loads.
What percentage of your repeat orders use BNPL — Klarna or similar?
Repeat customers often have higher BNPL adoption than first-time buyers. This adjusts your repeat-order CM2 in the LTV model
%
Leave blank → benchmark default: 20%
Explore more
Free resources
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The margin waterfall from gross revenue down to CM3, and how that structure feeds into building a profitable Google Ads account.
Acquisition
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How to actually calculate your NCAC
The step-by-step method for working out your true new customer acquisition cost - the number prospecting should be judged on.
Strategy
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