How do I read the margin?
Last updated: 31 October 2026 · The MargenOptimierer app is in German. Button and menu names are shown exactly as you see them, with the English meaning in brackets.
The Marge (margin) page shows what's left of your revenue on OTTO. VAT, OTTO commission, ad spend, refunds and your own costs come off the revenue, and for the whole account the OTTO base fee too. What's left is your contribution margin, and the margin is that amount as a percentage of revenue. You see the same calculation for your whole OTTO account, for each product group and for each item.
How it works
- Open the Marge page in the menu.
- Choose the period at the top right.
- At the top, in the Marge tile, read what percentage of your revenue is left for you.
- Further down, under Vom Umsatz zum Deckungsbeitrag (from revenue to contribution margin), read how much each line takes off the revenue.
- Click a product group in the table below. The calculation then applies only to that group, and the table shows its items.
- Click an item. The calculation then applies only to that item.
Example: Margin of the garden furniture
Say your garden furniture has 10,000 € of revenue in the period. From every 100 € of that, 16 € of VAT comes off, which is included in the price, plus 19 € of OTTO commission, 16 € of ad spend and 36 € for purchase price and shipping costs. That leaves 13 € of contribution margin, so a margin of 13%. If you've refunded customers or entered costs under Sonstiges (other costs), those come off too.
Your target margin is 15%. The 13% is below that and therefore appears in orange. From 15% the margin would appear in green, and below zero in red.
Von 100 € Umsatz gehen Steuer und Kosten ab, und 13 € bleiben dir als Deckungsbeitrag.
What else counts in the margin
What revenue and refunds are
Revenue is everything your customers paid in the period, with VAT and with the shipping costs they pay. Every percentage on the page refers to this revenue. Refunds are the money you've paid back to customers, usually for returns.
Two rows that aren't product groups
For your whole OTTO account the table has two special rows. „Ohne Produktgruppe“ (without product group) holds your items that you haven't assigned to a group. „Ohne Artikel“ (without item) holds what doesn't belong to any item, such as the OTTO base fee. Only with this row does the table add up to your whole contribution margin.
When costs or ad numbers are missing
If items are missing a purchase price or shipping costs, a note at the top says how many items it is. Your margin is then higher than it really is. Next to it you'll see „unvollständig“ (incomplete), and it never turns green. Kosten pflegen → (maintain costs) takes you to those items. If „Werbezahlen bis“ (ad numbers up to) and a day appear at the top, OTTO hasn't finished calculating the ad numbers of the last few days yet, as described in How do I choose a period and compare it?
Next
- Why is an item a cost driver?
- How do I enter purchase price and shipping costs?