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Blog · Wallet share and penetration

Share of wallet on ten customers: the whole arithmetic on one page

The complete share of wallet calculation on ten customers small enough to check by hand: the ledger revenue, the size measure, the three main-supplier customers the norm is drawn from, the norm per site, the wallet per customer with its source, the share, the gap, the ceiling, the roll-up weighted by wallet against the average of shares, and the identity, so a reader can reproduce every figure and then run it on their own export.

The short answerTen customers in one segment, each with a site count and trailing revenue. Two customers state their wallets; three are main-supplier customers whose spend per site, median $95,000, becomes the norm; the norm times sites is the wallet for the other five. Share is revenue over wallet; gap is wallet minus revenue. The segment share is total revenue over total wallets, 43 percent, against an average of the ten shares of 52 percent, which is why the average is wrong. The ceiling from the main-supplier customers is 90 percent. The identity is that the ten revenues sum to the ledger's segment figure. Every number can be reproduced by hand.

Share of wallet needs a denominator the ledger does not hold, and the norm method estimates it from the customers where the company already has most of the business. On ten customers the whole method fits on a page. This page works it: the norm, the wallets with their sources, the shares, the gaps, the roll-up two ways, and the identity.

The customers

Customer Sites Revenue Wallet stated? Main supplier?
A 4 $310,000 $380,000, tender
B 6 $140,000
C 2 $160,000 $190,000, review
D 9 $90,000
E 3 $270,000 Yes
F 5 $450,000 Yes
G 2 $200,000 Yes
H 1 $30,000
I 7 $210,000
J 3 $95,000
Total 42 $1,955,000

The norm

Main-supplier customers' spend per site: E $90,000; F $90,000; G $100,000. Median $90,000... check: E 270/3 = 90; F 450/5 = 90; G 200/2 = 100. Median of (90, 90, 100) = $90,000 per site. Their own share, by their own account, is about 90 percent, which is the ceiling.

Norm = $90,000 per site. Ceiling = 90%.

Wallets, with sources

Customer Wallet Source
A $380,000 Stated
B 6 × 90,000 = $540,000 Norm
C $190,000 Stated
D 9 × 90,000 = $810,000 Norm
E 270,000 ÷ 0.9 = $300,000 Main supplier at ceiling
F $500,000 Main supplier at ceiling
G $222,000 Main supplier at ceiling
H 1 × 90,000 = $90,000 Norm
I 7 × 90,000 = $630,000 Norm
J 3 × 90,000 = $270,000 Norm
Total $3,932,000

Shares and gaps

Customer Share Gap to ceiling
A 82% $32,000
B 26% $346,000
C 84% $11,000
D 11% $639,000
E 90% 0
F 90% 0
G 90% 0
H 33% $51,000
I 33% $357,000
J 35% $148,000

Gap to ceiling = wallet × 90% − revenue, floored at zero. D first, then I, then B.

The roll-up, two ways

Segment share, weighted = 1,955,000 ÷ 3,932,000 = 50% Average of the ten shares = (82+26+84+11+90+90+90+33+33+35) ÷ 10 = 57%

Seven points apart. The weighted figure is the one; the average flatters because the small, full customers count as much as the large, empty ones.

The identity

Σ revenue = $1,955,000 = the ledger's segment total

Where it goes wrong, even at ten

Norm as a mean. One odd main-supplier customer moves it.

Stated wallets ignored. A and C measured against the norm when they told us.

Average of shares. 57 instead of 50.

Gap against 100. D's gap reads $720,000; nobody has ever held 100 percent.

From ten to ten thousand

The same columns per customer, the norm per segment cell with its count, the roll-up weighted by wallet. Covirage runs this on the ledger and the customer master every month with the source on every line. The share of wallet calculation guide covers the method, and the norm guide covers the norm at scale.

Questions people ask

Why are the main-supplier customers the norm?

Because they show what a customer of this kind spends in the category when the company holds most of it. Their spend per site is the best available statement of a full wallet per site, and applying it to a customer's site count is the norm method. Where the customer states a wallet, the stated figure wins.

Why is the average of shares wrong?

Because it weights a one-site customer the same as a nine-site one. The segment share is the total revenue over the total wallets, which is what the company holds of what the segment spends. On these ten the average is nine points too high.

What is the ceiling for?

The main-supplier customers' own shares, around 90 percent, say how high a share can reasonably go in this category. A customer at 84 percent is nearly done; one at 25 has room. The gap is measured against the ceiling, not against 100.