Cannibalization Rate Calculator

About this calculator

When a company launches a new product, not all of its sales represent genuinely new demand — some customers simply switch over from an existing product in the lineup, a substitution effect known as cannibalization. The cannibalization rate quantifies it as existing-product sales lost ÷ new product’s total sales, expressed as a percentage.

A high cannibalization rate means the new launch is mostly rearranging sales the company already had rather than growing the pie, which changes how its success should be judged and whether it’s worth the investment; some cannibalization is often an acceptable trade-off if the new product carries a better margin or defends against a competitor. Product managers, brand managers and marketing analysts calculate this rate after a line extension or new SKU launch to measure true incremental revenue rather than gross new-product sales alone.