Increase Orders or Increase Profit per Order?
September 12, 2026 · KârHesapla · Ferhat Demir · E-commerce Specialist
Mathematically, there are two ways to grow a business’s total profit: getting more orders at the same margin, or raising the margin with the same number of orders. Most sellers reflexively choose the first — because “more sales” feels more concrete and more satisfying. But the cost, risk and sustainability of these two routes are very different, and the right choice depends on the business’s current situation.
The real cost of increasing the number of orders
Getting more orders usually requires an ad budget, campaign discounts or a broader catalog — all three mean additional cost. The real cost of each additional order coming from ads is found by dividing the ad budget spent by those orders; if the joy of “sales went up” is felt without considering this cost, the growing revenue may actually end in lower net profit.
The real cost of increasing the margin
Raising the margin also has a price, but of a different kind: a price increase may reduce units sold, and efforts to cut costs (a cheaper supplier, smaller packaging) may increase quality risk. Margin-focused growth usually progresses more slowly because each step (price testing, changing suppliers, cost optimization) requires careful testing — it does not deliver results as quickly as a fast campaign.
Seeing the two strategies in the same table
| Strategy | Example in practice | Risk | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Increasing the number of orders | Ads, campaigns, new SKUs | Ad costs can eat the margin | Fast; visible in the short term |
| Increasing profit per order | Price testing, cost optimization | Units sold may fall | Slow; requires cautious testing |
When should the number of orders be prioritized?
If the margin is already healthy (above or at least at the category average) and operations can handle the extra volume, increasing the number of orders makes sense — because adding volume on top of a solid margin base flows directly into profit. This overlaps with situations where the criteria for being ready to grow are met.
When should the margin be prioritized?
If the margin is already thin or below the category average, increasing the number of orders makes the problem bigger — more low-margin sales mean more total risk. In this case you first need to understand why the margin is thin (wrong pricing, high returns, unnecessary costs?) and fix it. Growing volume on a thin margin creates a business that “sells a lot and earns little” — which is exactly the source of the trap we described in the losing money while revenue grows article.
A third option: both together, but in sequence
The healthiest approach is usually to do both not simultaneously but in sequence. First the margin is brought to a healthy level (pricing and cost items are validated), then volume is added on this solid base. Running a price test and increasing the ad budget at the same time makes it impossible to see which change produced which result — the two get mixed up, and you can’t tell which lever worked.
A simple decision rule
Look at your profit margin data for the last three months. If it is above or close to the category average, it is safe to focus on growing volume. If it is clearly below, the margin problem needs to be solved before any volume investment — otherwise growth magnifies losses, not profit.
A decision moment in numbers
A seller gets 400 orders a month with a net profit of 35 TL per order — 14,000 TL in total. There are two options. The first: allocating an ad budget to raise orders to 550, but because the additional ad-driven orders have a low margin (18 TL), total net profit rises to 16,700 TL — a relatively small increase, and on top of that 150 additional orders mean 150 additional packings and 150 additional potential returns. The second: raising the price by 6% and accepting that the number of orders falls back to 360, but with the margin rising to 47 TL, total net profit reaches 16,920 TL — almost the same profit as the first option, but with fewer orders, less operational load and less return risk.
The table doesn’t read the same for a small seller and an established seller
For a newly opened store with no order history yet, this table works a little differently. Marketplace search algorithms usually rank by looking at sales and review counts; a product with zero history, however good its margin, does not sell at all if it cannot gain visibility. In this early period, accumulating volume even at a low margin — to earn a place in the rankings — can be a defensible strategy. For a seller whose catalog is already established and who already holds a certain place in the rankings, the same reasoning does not apply; for them the marginal benefit of additional volume is small, and protecting the margin should be the priority.
When does this rule not apply?
For a business experiencing a cash squeeze, the priority may also change temporarily. If cash inflow is needed in the short term, sacrificing some margin to increase volume — turning stock into cash — can be a sensible choice; optimizing the margin is a slow process that requires patience, and there is not always a cash buffer to sustain that patience.
The compound effect of higher volume on commission and returns
As the number of orders grows, the absolute number of returns grows even if the return rate stays the same — a 10% return rate means 40 returns on 400 orders but 55 returns on 550 orders; every return requires packing, shipping and handling time. Likewise, total commission paid also grows with volume, but this does not always translate into a proportional increase in profit — if the volume increase is driven by ads, the ad budget is added on top of this growth and complicates the overall picture.
Checklist
- Where does your current margin stand relative to the category average?
- Did you check this margin before a campaign/ad push to increase orders?
- Have you identified the source of the margin problem (price, returns, costs)?
- Are you applying the two strategies in sequence rather than at the same time?