The waterfall is the most useful visualisation in nouz for understanding the shape of your business. The same EBIT number can come from different waterfalls — and the shape tells you what kind of shop you are and where the levers are.
01 What does the EBIT waterfall show?
The waterfall is a stacked column chart that reads left to right: a tall gross revenue bar, then each subtraction in turn — tax, transaction fees, COGS (usually the biggest), variable costs, and your fixed-cost slice — ending in EBIT, what's left. It's the EBIT formula drawn as a chart, so you can see exactly where the money goes. Each step is listed below.
- Gross revenue — the tall starting bar.
- − Tax — first subtraction, in a dim colour.
- − Transaction fees — second subtraction.
- − COGS — biggest subtraction for most shops.
- − Variable costs — Expenses tab total.
- − Fixed cost slice — your daily allocation × number of days in range.
- = EBIT — what's left.
02 How do I read the waterfall?
Look at the relative heights. If the COGS chunk is enormous, your margin per unit is thin and worth a closer look. If fixed cost is dominant, you're running close to break-even and any revenue dip stings. If tax + fees are large, you're card-heavy in a high-VAT country (normal for Austria / Germany).
03 What does the waterfall tell me about my shop?
The waterfall makes the structure of your business visible, and three shapes tell different stories. A COGS-dominated shape is a margin business — improve it by raising prices or cutting COGS per unit. A fixed-cost-dominated shape is a capacity business — improve it by adding volume or trimming overhead. A balanced shape is healthy, improved marginally across several areas. Each pattern is detailed below.
- COGS-dominated — margin business. Improve by raising prices or reducing COGS per unit.
- Fixed-cost-dominated — capacity business. Improve by adding volume or reducing overhead.
- Balanced — healthy. Improve marginally in multiple areas.
04 How do I spot changes month-over-month?
When you switch the range picker between this month and last month, the waterfall reshapes. The most useful thing to spot: a subtraction line that grew faster than gross revenue. If gross is up 10% but COGS is up 20%, your margin is silently shrinking and the waterfall flags it visually before any "margin drift" insight tag fires.
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