Profitability Turnaround
Growing but not making money? Our goal is to fix the unit economics in 90 days.
A focused, hands-on program for brands whose online revenue looks healthy while the bank balance does not, from businesses just getting started to those doing $50M+ that want to scale to $100M+. We help you find where margin is leaking, work to stop it, and rebuild a plan designed to grow contribution margin, not just sales.
The ten leaks we find most often.
Each one is sized in dollars during the diagnostic, so the fixes are prioritized by impact.
- Non-incremental paid spend: branded search and retargeting claiming sales that would have happened anyway.
- Promotion addiction: sitewide discounts that train customers to wait and give margin to loyal buyers.
- Free shipping below break-even: thresholds set without reference to AOV and margin.
- Returns: fit and imagery problems driving avoidable returns, refunded instead of exchanged.
- Tool sprawl: overlapping apps and software paid for but unused.
- Agency overlap: several vendors billing for the same outcome.
- Unprofitable channels: marketplaces or wholesale programs losing money after fees and chargebacks.
- Dead inventory: capital tied up in slow styles, discounted too late.
- Support cost: contacts that a better PDP or tracking page would remove.
- Fulfillment overcharges: 3PL and carrier fees nobody audits.
Three phases, one goal: contribution margin.
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Weeks 1 to 2: Diagnose
Rebuild the P&L by channel, product and customer cohort from your own data. Size every leak in dollars. Agree the baseline.
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Weeks 3 to 6: Stop the bleeding
Cut non-incremental spend, reset promotion rules, renegotiate or consolidate vendors, fix shipping thresholds, cancel unused tools.
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Weeks 7 to 10: Rebuild
Reallocate budget to channels with proven incremental return, relaunch retention, fix return drivers, clear aged inventory in a controlled way.
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Weeks 11 to 13: Lock it in
Hand over a 12-month plan, dashboards and runbooks. Continue as an End-to-End or module client, or take it in-house.
What a turnaround can look like.
The figures below are a hypothetical example to show the math, not a client result.
A $6M apparel brand spends 32% of revenue on marketing, runs a sitewide sale every month, and has a 28% return rate. Contribution margin is 6%, or $360K.
| Lever | Change | Margin impact |
|---|---|---|
| Paid media | Cut non-incremental spend by $300K | +$300K less lost sales of ~$90K margin |
| Promotions | 12 sitewide events to 6 targeted events | +$150K |
| Returns | 28% to 24% via fit fixes and exchanges | +$80K |
| Tools and vendors | Consolidation | +$45K |
| Total | ~$485K added contribution margin |
Find your leaks in two weeks.
The diagnostic sizes every leak in dollars and gives you a fixed-price plan. Credited to your first three months.