Revenue up, profit down
Many DTC brands hit the same wall. Revenue grows, ad spend grows faster, and at the end of the quarter there’s less cash than expected. Meta and Google both report strong ROAS, but they’re taking credit for the same customers, discounts are eating margin, and repeat purchase rates haven’t moved.
I run ecommerce growth on profit. Paid acquisition, conversion and retention are managed as one system, and every decision is judged on MER, new-customer economics and contribution margin.
How I grow DTC brands
1. Build the profit model
Product costs, shipping, fulfillment, payment fees, discounts and returns go into a contribution margin model by product and channel. It shows which products are worth advertising, what a new customer can cost, and how quickly they need to pay back.
2. Set targets that match the business
Blended MER, new-customer CAC, first-order contribution margin and payback period become the targets everyone works to. Platform ROAS stays an optimization input, not the scorecard.
3. Acquire profitably
Meta, Google Shopping, Performance Max, Search and TikTok, with server-side tracking and Conversions API feeding the algorithms clean purchase data. Creative testing runs on a fixed cadence, and spend is allocated according to what the profit model supports.
4. Convert more of the traffic
Product pages, collections, cart and checkout are improved through research and testing. Offer strategy — bundles, free-shipping thresholds, pricing and launches — is part of the work, because the offer often moves conversion more than the design does.
5. Retain and grow customer value
Klaviyo email and SMS flows, subscriptions with Recharge, post-purchase journeys, reviews and loyalty. Retention is what turns an expensive first order into a profitable customer.
6. Report profit weekly
One weekly report: revenue, spend, MER, new versus returning customers, contribution margin and what we’re changing next week.
When the store is the bottleneck
Sometimes the store itself holds growth back — a slow theme, a weak mobile experience, a checkout you can’t customize or a platform you’ve outgrown. In that case I rebuild or migrate it on Shopify as part of the engagement, with tracking and CRO built in from the start.
Where to start
Most brands start with the one-week Growth Audit. I review your store, ad accounts, tracking, email flows and margins, and deliver a first-pass profit model plus a ranked list of opportunities across acquisition, conversion and retention. From there we either run a focused scope — often paid media and retention first — or I take ownership of the full funnel as your fractional head of growth.
Who this is for
- DTC brands with product-market fit and consistent monthly revenue, ready to scale spend profitably.
- Shopify brands whose ad platforms report growth the bank account doesn’t reflect.
- Founders running growth themselves who need a senior operator across paid, CRO and retention.
Who this is not for
- Pre-launch brands still validating the product — start with a focused Shopify build and launch plan.
- Brands looking only for a media buyer. This engagement owns the whole funnel and the margin.