What don't sales figures tell you?

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For a business, gross profit is always more important. This is basic economics. You can have $1 billion in sales per week (1 billion gross sales per week), but if your net sales are $0, you have no revenue at all. Investment analysts say tracking and analyzing gross profit is only useful for consumer retail businesses. It is only when a business compares itself to its rivals that it makes a significant profit. Another reason why it is important to record gross profit is for tax purposes. Having gross profit on your income statement may be required by your local tax office, or investors may want to see it.
However, when compared to sales, gross sales volume can be misleading as it does not indicate the actual efficiency or profitability of a business, so to be maximum fair, it should be shown next to sales volume.

Any competent accounting or finance professional knows what gross profit numbers tell you, but what about what they don't tell you? In fact, many people know what gross profit numbers are and how to benin telegram database calculate them, but overestimate their importance. Here is a list of important things gross profit numbers don't tell you:
How profits have changed - Even if you are comparing total sales over a period of time, a 5% increase from Q1 doesn't mean profits have increased by 5%. These numbers need to be calculated entirely separately.

How efficiently you can handle and minimize costs/expenses. Gross margin only reflects what you get overall (e.g. revenue). It does not reflect how costs affect profits.
How good is your pricing strategy? Unfortunately, total sales don't tell you which products are bestsellers and which are lagging behind. Total sales only gives you a basic understanding of consumer spending trends over a period of time, without any concrete information.