Ecommerce Profitability: A Per-Order Decision Map
Build contribution per order, then test fees, shipping, returns, acquisition, fulfilment and product mix one decision at a time.
Tag: ecommerce
List of all related Margin101 business guides.
Compare Marketplace and Payment Fees
Translate your actual provider contracts and statements into percentage, fixed, recurring, refund and fulfilment components.
Self-Fulfilment vs 3PL: Compare Cost, Capacity and Service
Compare user-entered fixed, per-order and loaded-labour costs while keeping capacity and service-level trade-offs explicit.
How to Plan Stock Purchases Before a Seasonal Campaign
Reconcile stock, demand assumptions, supplier dates, buying budget and downside cash before committing to a seasonal purchase.
How to Test a Free-Shipping Threshold
Test basket size, qualifying share, shipping cost and order-change assumptions around a contribution-preserving threshold.
How Returns Change Ecommerce Contribution
Separate return frequency from revenue loss, recoverable value, fee reversals, refund timing and reverse-logistics cost.
Profit-First ROAS and CAC: Start With Contribution
Set break-even and target acquisition ceilings from contribution before advertising rather than revenue alone.
How Fixed Payment Fees Affect Small Orders
Use a neutral fixed-plus-percentage scenario to see why the same fee schedule produces a different effective rate at different order values.
Subscription Box Churn and Inventory Commitment
Translate finite subscriber scenarios into inventory commitments without treating churn or demand as known.
Free Shipping, Returns and CAC: Stress-Test the Same Order
Put shipping support, expected returns and acquisition cost on one order-contribution basis before choosing an offer.
Marketplace Expansion for a DTC Brand
Compare channel contribution, cash timing, fulfilment and cannibalisation boundaries before expanding a direct brand.
Fulfilled by Platform vs Merchant Fulfilment
Compare fulfilment structures using aligned order volume, fees, handling cost, service scope and capacity.
How to Test a Promotion Before Launching It
Define a bounded offer cadence, test no-lift economics and review full-price recovery without making behavioural promises.
Contribution per Order After Ecommerce Fees
Reconcile product, fulfilment, platform, payment, returns and acquisition costs without double counting the fee stack.
How to Review SKU and Product-Mix Profit
Compare product rows using contribution, weighted margin and total contribution rather than revenue alone.
How to Rank SKUs by Contribution, Not Revenue
Rank comparable SKUs by contribution per order or total contribution while keeping product-mix and discontinuation decisions separate.