Digital & Online · Seller readiness
Selling an E-commerce Business business
Published · Reviewed by The Diligence Standard Team · Updated
Owners should prepare channel-level contribution margin, cohort retention, advertising economics, inventory aging, supplier agreements and account transferability.
How the business works
Channel concentration, paid-media efficiency, repeat customers, inventory, returns, supplier relationships and account ownership drive value.
Issues to resolve
- Revenue is emphasized instead of contribution margin
- Ad accounts and pixels are not transferable
- Inventory is overvalued
- Supplier relationships are informal
- Customer cohorts are not analyzed
Evidence to request and reconcile
- Channel-level sales
- Ad spend/ROAS/CAC
- Customer repeat cohorts
- Inventory aging
- Supplier purchase history
- Platform/account ownership records
Decision questions
- What profit remains after all advertising and fulfillment?
- How much sales volume disappears if ad efficiency weakens?
- Are marketplace accounts and brand assets transferable?
- What inventory is stale?
- How concentrated is supply in one factory or vendor?