Every category breaks in a different place.
The decomposition is the same everywhere. Where to look first isn't. Here's how Prism reads eight kinds of store — which driver usually moves, which analysis to open first, and what to connect.
Five drivers, weighted by category
Each section shows which of the five drivers a revenue review in that category should check first, an illustrative month run through the same model as the live widget, and the analyses that usually find the cause fastest. The patterns are illustrative, not benchmarks — your own store's breakdown is what Prism produces.
“Did we sell less, or did more of it come back?”
Apparel lives and dies on returns. A strong month on gross sales can be a weak month on net revenue once size and fit returns land — and they land weeks after the order.
- Return rate climbing on a handful of products, sizes or colours
- Discount-led acquisition that buys one-time buyers
- Mobile conversion slipping during new-collection drops
“Are first orders turning into second orders?”
Replenishment is the business model. Whether a customer's first product leads to a repeat purchase matters more than this month's traffic — and returning buyers' conversion is the early warning.
- First-product mix shifting toward items that rarely get re-bought
- Gift-with-purchase promos inflating one-off orders
- The repeat interval stretching without anyone noticing
“Is the margin still there after shipping?”
High order values and low purchase frequency. A few large orders swing the month, and shipping, damage and returns logistics decide whether a sale actually made money.
- Shipping cost per order rising faster than average order value
- Long consideration windows hiding a change in conversion
- Damaged-item returns eating contribution margin
“Are subscribers leaving, or are their cards failing?”
Subscriptions and replenishment orders make revenue predictable — until churn creeps in. Weight-based shipping makes margin sensitive to basket size.
- Involuntary churn from failed payments counted as cancellations
- Shipping zones where small baskets lose money
- Subscriber cohorts acquired on deep first-box discounts
“How long until a new subscriber pays back?”
Paid acquisition is expensive and the payoff arrives months later. Payback period by channel decides how much you can afford to spend — and which channel to stop scaling.
- Channels with cheap first orders and poor 90-day retention
- Bundle discounts that lower AOV without lifting retention
- Ad spend scaling faster than contribution margin
“Did the sale make money, or just volume?”
Thin product margins mean a promotion can grow revenue and shrink profit in the same week. Product mix, not traffic, usually decides average order value.
- Promotions pulling forward orders that would have come anyway
- Mix shifting toward low-margin accessories
- Opened-box returns written off at full cost
“Which customers become repeat, on-schedule buyers?”
Pet owners buy on a schedule. Heavy, bulky items make shipping a margin question, and the first product a customer buys often hints at how long they'll stay.
- Repeat sign-ups falling after a checkout or subscription-flow change
- Bulky items shipped below cost in remote zones
- Cohorts from steep first-order discounts not repeating
“Was it fewer new subscribers, or more cancellations?”
The whole business is a cohort question. MRR movement split into new, expansion, contraction and churn tells you which lever to pull — and which one only looks broken.
- Cancellations clustering after the second or third box
- Plan downgrades hidden inside flat MRR
- Payment failures counted as decided churn
If you sell online and can connect your orders, the decomposition works.
The categories above are where we've written the starting points down. Tell us what you sell and roughly how many orders a month — we'll say honestly whether Prism fits before you subscribe.
See where your category's number breaks.
No trial account needed — start monthly and cancel any time.