Margins are a type of metric that provides information about sales relative to costs. Generally, a margin is the difference between sales and costs. A company could be very profitable by selling lots of products with a very small margin on each (e.g. Walmart); or they could be profitable selling very few units with a large margin on each (e.g. Tiffany & Co.). Similarly, a company might have very high total revenue but be unprofitable due to high costs; or they could have low total revenue but be profitable because costs are low. Measuring margins helps us understand these issues.

Internet resources to find information about the margins for two similar products or companies.

Kroger versus Meijer

Use the information that you found and discuss the following: Explain what each company/product is, and report the margins for each. What specifically is the type of margin you report measuring (i.e. gross margin, percent margin, average margin, etc.)? How similar or different are these margins? What might explain these differences or similarities? What do these margins tell you about the companies/products?