Economies of Scale

The cost advantages that come from getting bigger: as volume rises, the cost per unit falls because fixed costs spread wider and you gain buying and operating leverage.

Why it matters

Economies of scale can become a moat, larger players undercut smaller ones on cost, which is why some markets tip toward a few winners. Knowing whether your business has them shapes how aggressively you should grow.

For example

A large e-commerce player negotiates cheaper shipping and spreads its fixed tech costs over millions of orders, so its cost per order falls below a small rival's.

Related terms

Go deeper

See how founders actually handle this on Growing and marketing, part of the Starting Up hub.

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