Concept / Term · Established
Per-customer business economics
The revenue, direct cost and contribution generated by one customer or unit, used to judge whether growth is financially sustainable.
Field note
Unit economics examines the revenue and direct cost associated with one meaningful unit—often a customer, account, order or transaction—to test whether growth creates or destroys value.
The concept applies contribution economics at the smallest repeatable business unit. It became central to subscription and marketplace analysis because rapid growth can conceal poor underlying economics.
Teams compare acquisition cost, gross margin, retention, lifetime value and support or fulfilment costs for a defined customer segment.
Scaling an unprofitable unit usually scales the loss; healthy aggregate revenue can hide that problem for a surprisingly long time.
In a sentence“Enterprise customers cost more to acquire, but their retention and margin produce stronger unit economics.”