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The Global Insight

How do you calculate the target price of a product?

Author

Robert Miller

Updated on February 28, 2026

Target Cost = (Selling Price ) / (1+ Desired Profit %) Under the first “left to right” method, costs drive pricing.

How is target costing beneficial to a firm?

Greater Business Profitability If it’s effective, target costing ultimately gives your business greater profitability, reports Accounting Tools. That’s because it takes into account both factors in profit: the costs and the price. Many companies start by developing products and base pricing on costs.

What is target price of a product?

Target pricing is the process of estimating a competitive price in the marketplace and applying a firm’s standard profit margin to that price in order to arrive at the maximum cost that a new product can have. A design team then tries to create a product with the requisite features within the pre-set cost constraint.

What is target costing in simple terms?

Target costing is an approach to determine a product’s life-cycle cost which should be sufficient to develop specified functionality and quality, while ensuring its desired profit. It involves setting a target cost by subtracting a desired profit margin from a competitive market price.

What is an example of target pricing?

For example, ABC Ltd. is in the business of manufacturing prom dresses for high school girls. The average price at which the prom dresses sell in the market is $100. So, ABC Ltd. also fixes the selling price of $120 for its up-scale range of prom dresses.

How does target pricing and target costing work?

The “target price” defines the maximum cost which can be spend to manufacture / assembly a product to be competitive on the market (“target price” = “target cost” + profit). A bottom up costing for your first design drafts identifies for you the gap between the “allowed cost level” and the “expected cost level”.

How to calculate target cost and cost gap?

– Calculate target cost: Calculate target cost by deducting the target profit from selling price, which set in the previous step. – Calculate cost gap: Cost gap occurs when the actual cost is higher than the target cost. So, during production, we need to compare the exact cost and target cost.

How are target costs used in car design?

In the automobile industry, the target cost for a new model is decomposed into target costs for each of the elements of the car–down to a target cost for each of the individual parts. The designers draft a trial blueprint, and a check is made to see if the estimated cost of the car is within reasonable distance of the target cost.

How to calculate target cost per unit in Excel?

If the company’s intended profit margin is 10% on the selling price, calculate the target cost per unit. Target Cost = Selling Price – Profit Margin ($20 – $2) Enter your name and email in the form below and download the free template now! Download the free Excel template now to advance your finance knowledge!