student asking question

What does "margins" mean?

teacher

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

The term "margin" has quite a few meanings. First it is often used to mean the amount by which one thing is different from another. Ex: She won the presidency by a wide margin. We also use "margin" when we are talking about the empty space next to the text on a page, it is sometimes separated from the rest of the page by a vertical line. Ex: If I have any comments to make, I'll write them in the margin. "Margin" can also be the outer edge of an area. Ex: The plant tends to grow in the lighter margins of woodland areas. However in this clip she is using "margins" to mean the profit made on a product or service. "Profit margin" is one of the most common ways to judge the success of a company's in terms of money. It shows what amount of sales is actually profit. Simply put, the "profit margin" indicates how many cents of profit the business has made for each dollar of sale. Ex: Reducing our labour costs has helped to increase our profit margin.

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