Being a retailer ain't easy. That's why we at the boutique hub are going to be coming to you with a new series called Know Your Numbers.

We're going to get the facts on what is the most important to drive profit, drive cash in your business, and really have you feel in control over your future.

Numbers are black and white. It's the one thing we record every day,

and we're going to teach you how to make the most of tracking your KPIs and metrics. Let's jump in.

On this episode, we're going to cover your initial markup. Now, your initial markup, your IMU, it is more important now than ever.

And holding that initial markup strong is going to be super important to your success.

So let's jump in and let's take a look at your initial markup.

Okay, your initial markup is essentially how you price your goods.

So let's think about it like this.

You go out and you buy an item from your wholesale vendor for $10.

That's the cost.

$10, right?

You price it at $25.

You put it in your store, sell it to your customer for $25.

The most amount of profit you are able to make is going to be $15. And as we all know in retail, the price will only potentially come down, discounts, promotions, markdowns. So that $15

of profit is the most amount. It's your profit ceiling. So where you price something is going

to directly impact your gross margin, right? Your gross margin is what you're left with

after all the discounts, the promotions,

the markdowns. So we want to keep close attention and it's often forgotten that the pricing

is really setting the bar for how much profit you can make in your business. So when we talk about

IMU, think about it as your profit ceiling. Now, the formula is pretty

simple. You're going to take your inventory at retail, your on-hand inventory at retail,

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