Start with the job each channel is meant to do
A direct store, a wholesale account and a marketplace listing do not provide the same service to the business. Direct may preserve the customer relationship but consume acquisition and support time. Wholesale may exchange unit contribution for larger orders and fewer fulfilment events. A marketplace may provide reach while adding fees, returns rules and less control over the customer relationship.
Write the intended role before comparing prices. Otherwise a lower-contribution channel can look automatically weak even when it releases scarce capacity, while a high-contribution channel can look attractive despite consuming more support time than the business can supply.
Build a channel decision from comparable cost stacks
Prerequisites, sequence and checkpoints
- Define the product, period, currency and indirect-tax treatment once for every channel. (not complete)
- Name each channel role: acquisition, reach, recurring volume, convenience or direct relationship. (not complete)
- Reconcile product, fulfilment, payment, platform, returns, support and term costs without double counting. (not complete)
- Compare contribution and cash timing, then test volume, return and capacity sensitivities. (not complete)
- Set channel-specific floor, review trigger and exit condition before launch. (not complete)
Reconcile three channel stacks
| Channel | Cost stack to record | Guardrail |
|---|---|---|
| Direct | Product, fulfilment, payment, acquisition and support | Retained contribution after service cost |
| Wholesale | Product, packaging, order handling, terms and account support | Contribution plus cash-term tolerance |
| Marketplace | Product, fulfilment, platform, payment, returns and support | Contribution after the complete fee stack |
Compare prices without forcing equal margins
Reproducible user scenario
A fictional product is assessed on one monthly, tax-excluded CU basis. The rows are a reproducible reasoning record; calculators own exact outputs.
| Step | Input or arithmetic | Decision meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Direct | Price 100 CU; entered channel costs 58 CU | 42 CU contribution before shared period costs |
| Wholesale | Price 72 CU; entered channel costs 49 CU | 23 CU contribution plus longer-term cash exposure |
| Marketplace | Price 95 CU; entered channel costs 67 CU | 28 CU contribution; recheck every entered fee |
Follow the sensitivity branch that can change the decision
| Branch | Entered scenario | What to investigate next |
|---|---|---|
| Volume | Direct: 42 CU × 100 units = 4,200 CU; wholesale: 23 CU × 240 = 5,520 CU; marketplace: 28 CU × 180 = 5,040 CU | Wholesale produces more total contribution only if the entered volume and terms are feasible; this is not a demand forecast. |
| Returns | Marketplace expected return cost rises by 4 CU per unit: contribution falls from 28 to 24 CU; 24 × 180 = 4,320 CU | Recheck the return-cost record and whether the channel still clears its contribution floor. |
| Capacity | Direct requires 20 support hours; wholesale 5 account-service hours; marketplace 12 support hours in the entered month | If delivery capacity is binding, compare contribution per scarce hour as a separate operational view. |
Limitations, evidence and next action
Use the calculation owner for the next step
- Channel Pricing Comparison Planner
Compare retained contribution from direct and partner routes
- Wholesale vs Retail Channel Margin Planner
Set a wholesale price that protects supplier and reseller margins
- Multi-channel Profit Comparison
Compare retained contribution across direct and marketplace channels
Questions and boundaries
- Must every channel have the same margin?
- No. Different roles and cost stacks can justify different guardrails, provided the trade-off is explicit.
- Are these fee assumptions current?
- No provider defaults are supplied. Enter the terms from your own current contracts and statements.
Sources and scope
- Choose a pricing strategy — business.gov.au: Stable pricing decision concepts only; no Australian rule or value is treated as global.