What the numbers say
Buy two, get one free: the customer pays $138.00 and takes three. Against selling two at full price, the free unit costs $31.56 per order: its unit cost, one more pick, and any change in the label for the extra weight.
Three for the price of two keeps $11.11 per order, against $42.67 for two at full price and $19.44 for one. The offer pays when it turns single-unit buyers into three-unit buyers; given to customers who were buying two, it only costs $31.56 an order.
Per visitor, it needs more buyers than a single-unit sale to earn as much.
The cost structure, and where it comes from
| Price | $69.00, a dress. Princess Polly (an a.k.a. Brands brand), Anastaza Mini Dress, read 13 October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Unit cost | $29.46. From the income statement: revenue $600.2 million, gross profit $344.1 million, a gross margin of 57.3%. a.k.a. Brands, annual report (Form 10-K) for the year ended 2025-12-31, read 13 October 2026 |
| Pick and pack | $3.20 per order and $0.48 for each extra item. Fulfill.com, 3PL pricing benchmarks (The Fulfillment Advisor 2025 survey of 600+ warehouses), read 23 September 2026 |
| Shipping label | USPS Ground Advantage, commercial, Zone 5, by weight rounded up to the pound: 1 lb $9.29 · 2 lb $10.50 · 3 lb $12.12 · 4 lb $13.89 · 5 lb $14.53. Packed weight is an assumption: 1 lb per unit. USPS Notice 123, USPS Ground Advantage Commercial, Zone 5 (effective 4 October 2026), read 13 October 2026 |
| Card fees | 2.9% + $0.30 per order: Shopify Payments' online rate for a standard card on the Basic plan in the United States. Higher plans pay a lower rate, and premium cards a higher one. Shopify's pricing page for the United States, online standard card rates, read 12 October 2026 Rates by plan and country |
| Refund reserve | 18.3%, the sales return rate a.k.a. Brands reports across its brands for 2025. a.k.a. Brands, annual report (Form 10-K) for the year ended 2025-12-31, read 13 October 2026 |
| Gift | A tote bag: unit cost $6.41, retail $15.00. A $15 tote bag, costed at a.k.a. Brands' reported gross margin. |
The offer, as an agent writes it
An agent writes this offer as one document for Offer Suite's API, validated against the offer schema. Below is one option of it: what the buyer gets and the price it promises. Offer Suite checks with a real cart that checkout charges exactly the prices above.
Show one option 2 options · excerpt
{
"key": "three-for-two",
"display": {
"title": "Buy 2, get 1 free"
},
"lines": [
{
"role": "main",
"quantity": 3,
"purchase": {
"type": "one_time"
}
}
],
"pricing": {
"promise": {
"firstChargeCents": 13800,
"renewalChargeCents": null
}
}
}How Offer Suite validates, versions and publishes a document like this one: offer documents.
Questions
Is buy 2, get 1 free profitable for online fashion brands?
On these costs three units for the price of two keep $11.11 per order, less than the $19.44 one unit keeps and $31.56 less than two at full price.
What does the free unit cost online fashion brands?
$31.56 per order here: a unit cost of $29.46, one more pick, and the heavier label where the third unit crosses a pound.