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Also known as: COGS, cost of revenue

Cost of Goods Sold

FoundationalFinanceMetrics

Definition

Cost of Goods Sold: Cost of Goods Sold is the direct cost of delivering your product or service, including hosting, support, and payment processing for SaaS. COGS subtracted from revenue gives gross profit. Lower COGS means higher gross margins.

Example Usage

β€œOur COGS includes AWS hosting, Stripe fees, and customer support salaries, totaling 25% of revenue.”

Common Misconceptions

COGS includes all costs. Only direct costs to serve customers count; R&D and S&M are operating expenses.
SaaS has no COGS. Hosting, support, and third-party services are all COGS for SaaS.
Lower COGS is always the goal. Under-investing in infrastructure can hurt customer experience.

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