Bucket 1: Revenue

‍Objective: Understand whether flat revenue is masking a deterioration in revenue quality, since the same top-line number can look very different if pricing has eroded or mix has shifted toward lower-margin products.

• Pricing: average selling prices by category over time and whether discounting has increased
• Product Mix: shift in revenue toward lower-margin categories or away from higher-margin ones
• Channel Mix: proportion of sales through brick-and-mortar vs. online, and relative margins of each

Bucket 2: Costs

‍Objective: Understand whether costs have risen faster than revenue and where specifically, since a 5-point margin decline on flat revenue implies meaningful cost growth somewhere in the business.

• COGS (Cost of Goods Sold): input costs, supplier pricing, and inventory shrinkage trends
• Store Operating Costs: rent, labor, and utilities across the store network
• Corporate and Overhead: central functions, marketing spend, and any structural cost additions over the period

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