Most businesses don’t lose money in one big mistake. They lose money slowly, through small leaks that go unnoticed.
The problem is that these leaks don’t look serious on a daily basis. But over three to six months, they quietly become a big loss.
Here are the most common places businesses lose money without realising, and what you can do to stop it.
Some products sell a lot, but give almost no profit.
For example, a product sells 100 times, but the profit per sale is only ₹5. It may look like a best seller, but it’s not actually helping your business grow.
The fix is simple. Track product wise profit, not only product wise sales. Sales show popularity, but profit shows what is truly working.
Discounts feel like a growth strategy, but they silently kill profit.
Many businesses don’t calculate how much profit was lost because of discounting, or whether discounts actually increased net profit.
A simple fix is to track discount given as a separate monthly number. Once you see it clearly, it becomes easier to control.
Small wastage looks normal daily, but monthly it becomes huge.
This usually happens because of expired stock, damaged goods, customer returns, wrong packing, or delivery damage.
The fix is to keep a simple monthly wastage and return cost log. Even a basic note in a sheet is enough to start seeing patterns.
Sometimes the business grows, but the work process does not improve. The result is more salary expense, less output per person, and reduced profit.
One useful number to track here is salary as a percentage of revenue. This helps you understand whether your team cost is staying healthy as you grow.
Many businesses ignore small expenses because each one looks harmless. But together, they become a big monthly cost.
This can include delivery charges, packaging, small subscriptions, commissions, repair costs, and travel costs.
The fix is to track your top three expense categories every month. Once you know what your biggest costs are, controlling them becomes much easier.
Your business can show profit but still feel broke, simply because cash is stuck.
This usually happens when money is sitting in customer credit, pending invoices, or slow payments.
The fix is to track money to receive every month. This one number alone can improve your cash situation without changing sales.
At the end of every month, ask yourself three questions. Which product made the most profit? Which expense increased suddenly? Where did cash get stuck?
This alone can improve profit without increasing sales. When leaks reduce, your business becomes stronger automatically.
Known Axis can review your sales and expense data and show you exactly where money is leaking, in simple language that is easy to act on.