Executive Summary

Many SMB ecommerce owners—especially on Shopify—think they know margins but miscalculate them because platform fees, shipping, returns, discounts, ad spend and inventory holding costs are scattered across systems; founders and finance teams struggle to compute true per-SKU and per-order profit. As margins tighten, that lack of clarity leads to poor pricing, overspending on acquisition, and fragile cash flow. Build a lightweight Python-based calculator/app that connects to Shopify and other APIs to ingest orders, fees, ad spend and shipping, uses AI-assisted ETL to infer missing COGS, and outputs per-order and per-SKU contribution margins, LTV:CAC and scenario simulators; make results exportable and spreadsheet-first for immediate trust and actionability. The product should prioritize fast setup, clear lineage for every cost line, and templates for common pricing and retention scenarios. The market is sizable and accessible—roughly 3 million ecommerce stores equals a $1.2B addressable market at $400 ACV—and demand is rising as SMB merchants seek clearer unit economics. Platform app stores and APIs lower distribution friction today, and AI-driven ETL reduces engineering time to ship an MVP. You can stand out by being the simplest, most transparent “true margins” solution: Python-first for extensibility, spreadsheet outputs for CFO-level trust, and AI reconciliation for fast time-to-value; however, expect challenges around data quality, multi-source reconciliation and a medium-competitive field, so prioritize robust integrations, clear SLAs, and a focused go-to-market to win early adopters.

Market Opportunity

Confusing Shopify profits - build Python calculator for true margins targets a $1.2B = 3M ecommerce stores × $400 ACV total addressable market with medium saturation and a year-over-year growth rate of 12% YoY — ecommerce tools and analytics growth (Statista / industry reports 2023-2024).

Key trends driving demand: Trend — SMB ecommerce merchants are demanding clearer unit economics as margins tighten, creating demand for margin-first tools.; Trend — Platform APIs (Shopify, BigCommerce) and app stores make integration and distribution simpler for third-party apps.; Trend — AI-driven ETL and cost-inference reduce the engineering time required to reconcile scattered cost data, enabling faster product development.; Trend — Growing adoption of SaaS accounting tools and bookkeeping services creates partnership channels for margin analytics products..

Key competitors include A2X, QuickBooks Online (ecosystem apps), ProfitCalc.

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Confusing Shopify profits - build Python calculator for true margins

Executive Summary

Market Validation

Market Opportunity

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