Margin per order.
Cash per season.
E-commerce runs on thin margins and lumpy cash. Stock is bought months before it sells, ads are paid before the order lands, and revenue is not the number that matters. We run finance for D2C and e-commerce brands so contribution margin, inventory and cash are read together — and planned together.
What is different about
finance in e-commerce.
The P&L can look healthy while the bank account empties. E-commerce finance is about the order, the warehouse and the cash cycle, not the top line.
Revenue is the wrong headline
Contribution margin per order — after cost of goods, shipping, payment processing and returns — is the number the business runs on. Below 20% leaves no room for marketing; above 30% buys you growth. Most dashboards stop at gross margin and miss the point.
Cash is trapped in stock
Inventory turn and the cash conversion cycle decide how much capital the business needs to grow. Slow turn means capital sitting in a warehouse; fast turn means thin margins on stockouts. Every purchase order is a financing decision and needs a cash forecast behind it.
Repeat purchase is the business model
First-order economics rarely cover acquisition cost. The 90-day repeat purchase rate decides whether you have a habit or a one-shot product — below 10% is the latter, above 30% the former — and it has to be tracked by cohort and channel, not blended.
Marketing is paid before it pays back
LTV over blended CAC says whether paid acquisition can scale. Below 1.5x is unsustainable; above 3x you can lean in. Ad budget, contribution margin and the cash forecast have to sit in one model, or the peak-season plan is a guess.
What we do for
e-commerce companies.
The same four disciplines we run for every client, with the deliverables a D2C or e-commerce brand actually needs.
- Peak-season cash plan
- Inventory financing & supplier terms
- Pricing & promotion economics
- Lender & investor reporting
- Contribution margin by SKU & channel
- Demand & inventory forecast
- Marketing payback model
- Scenario planning
- Inventory & COGS accounting
- Marketplace & payment payout recs
- Returns & chargebacks
- Monthly close
- Unit-economics dashboard
- Cash conversion cycle tracking
- Monthly management pack
- Board & lender updates
Four articles
worth an hour.
From our Insights library. Long-form, practical, written for founders — not for other finance people.
Three questions
e-commerce founders ask.
If yours is not here, book a 30-minute intro call and we will talk it through.
Usually inventory and marketing. Stock is paid for before it sells, ads are paid before orders land, and marketplace payouts lag. A 13-week cash forecast that includes purchase orders and ad budgets shows where the gap opens. Then the fix is a decision about buying, pricing or spend — not a bigger overdraft.