The Hidden Costs of Speed: Why John’s Air Freight Addiction Is Sabotaging His eCommerce SkinCare Brand

The Hidden Costs of Speed: Why John’s Air Freight Addiction Is Sabotaging His eCommerce SkinCare Brand

by | Jun 18, 2025 | Uncategorised

The Cosmetics Brand with
Empty Shelves and Empty Accounts

John sells luxury skincare products—face serums, moisturizers, and premium cleansers—manufactured in South Korea. His suppliers are reliable, his customers are loyal, and his products are flying off the digital shelves. But John has one big problem – “I never have enough inventory.”

Because he often runs out of stock, John panics and pays for emergency air freight shipments to replenish his warehouse. Let’s run a quick comparison:

Scenario            Sea Freight Air Freight
Units shipped 1,000 1,000
Cost per unit $5.00 $5.00
Freight per unit $1.00 $6.00
Landed cost/unit $6.00 $11.00

That’s $5,000 in extra freight for the same shipment.
And that’s not just a one-time hit. John did this four times last year. That’s $20,000 straight out of his margins.

Air vs. Sea Freight: the Real Difference?

Air freight gets your products to your warehouse quickly—often in 3 to 7 days. Sea freight on the other hand can take 30 to 45 days or more, depending on routes, customs delays, and port congestion.

But that speed comes at a 6–10x price for the exact same product.

  • Air Freight Cost: $6 to $10 per kg (or more)
  • Sea Freight Cost: Often under $1 per kg when consolidated efficiently

The Real Damage:
It’s Not Just Freight Costs

Using air freight as a Band-Aid fix doesn’t just affect your cost of goods. It snowballs into bigger problems:

 

  1. Low Gross Profit Margin (GPM)
    John’s gross profit margins were hovering around 42%—too low for a DTC brand relying on paid ads. Once air freight was removed from the picture, we modeled his GPM closer to 58%. That 16% margin leak was the difference between break-even and profitability.
  1. Inventory Churn Breaks Down
    Every time John paid for emergency freight, he had less capital available for a larger sea freight order. That kept his order sizes small… which meant more stock-outs… and more air freight. The vicious cycle continued.
  2. Cash Locked in Transit
    Air freight shortens shipping time, but doesn’t solve the bigger issue—lead-time planning. John’s capital was still tied up in inventory because he didn’t build his reorder system around gross margin and lead-time math.

What John Should’ve
Done Instead

✅ Build Inventory Around Sea Freight

Yes, sea takes longer. But if John had invested in larger, more predictable inventory orders and managed his reorder points with clear lead-time buffers, he could have reduced freight costs by over 70%.

✅ Use Air Freight Selectively

Emergency shipments should only be reserved for:

  • New product launches
  • Influencer campaigns
  • Holiday season best-sellers

✅ Calculate True Landed Cost Per Unit

When CronosNow rebuilt John’s COGS model, we discovered he hadn’t been including freight, packaging, duties, or FBA prep fees in his landed cost. That distorted his gross profit calculations.

✅ Use the Reorder Calculator

By using the Inventory Reorder Calculator, John could’ve planned smarter by understanding:

  • How often he needs to reorder
  • How much capital each PO actually requires
  • What gross margin is required to avoid stockouts

Air Freight Feels Like a Quick Fix—But It’s a Slow Killer

In John’s case, every quick air shipment delayed a larger, cheaper sea shipment. Every margin he gave up made it harder to reinvest in growth. His brand looked successful from the outside, but was teetering financially.

Final Thoughts

You’re not in the logistics business. You’re in the margin business. And the freight decisions you make today shape your cash flow, your growth runway, and your exit valuation tomorrow.

If you’re leaning on air freight too often, you’re probably not planning inventory with margin math—and that’s where we come in.

Tired of letting freight destroy your margins? Let us help you get clarity and control.
CRONOSNOW | CPG & ECOMMERCE ACCOUNTANTS
Gain Clarity. See the Path Ahead.

Unlocking True COGS: The Ultimate Guide for eCommerce Sellers

Unlocking True COGS: The Ultimate Guide for eCommerce Sellers

by | Jun 18, 2025 | Uncategorised

Why COGS should be
your Financial North Star

Many online sellers obsess over pushing revenue higher, believing that more sales automatically equal success. In reality, top‑line growth can mask shrinking margins and creeping cash‑flow issues if you don’t keep one crucial metric in focus.

Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) sits at the heart of your financial engine, translating every supplier invoice, freight bill, and marketplace fee into a number you can actually manage. In fact it is so powerful that it:

 

  • Controls Gross Profit:
    Revenue is vanity; gross profit is sanity. A 5‑point COGS error on a $1 M store can swing gross profit by $50
  • Drives Pricing & ROAS:
     You can’t set profitable ad budgets or discounts until you know true unit cost.
  • Signals Cash‑Flow Trouble Early:
    Inventory, freight spikes, and returns first hit COGS—spot leaks here before they snowball.
  • Unlocks Operating Leverage:
     Any savings on COGS has a multiplier effect on your Net Profit because most overhead costs stay fixed, letting each saved dollar drop straight to the bottom line.

The Master COGS
Checklist for eCommerce

Even after sellers accept that COGS matters, most spreadsheets still leave money on the table because a surprising number of direct costs never hit the books. The checklist below distils a decade of eCommerce accounting clean‑ups where we traced every penny from factory to customer’s porch. Treat it as a baseline: if an expense happens before the customer clicks “Confirm Order,” chances are it belongs in COGS.

 

1. Product & Manufacturing

  • Supplier invoice price (finished goods or raw materials)
  • Quality‑control and factory testing fees

2. Freight & Logistics

  • Freight from supplier to port/warehouse (sea, air, rail, truck)
  • Freight insurance & customs brokerage fees
  • Import duties & tariffs

3. Warehousing & Fulfillment

  • Inbound receiving fees (3PL check‑in)
  • Storage fees directly tied to the SKU
  • Pick & pack per order (FBA or 3PL)

4. Packaging & Labels

  • Branded boxes, mailers, inserts
  • Compliance labels, barcodes, poly‑bags

5. Marketplace & Payment Fees

  • Amazon referral + FBA fees
  • Shopify Payments or PayPal transaction fees tied to that SKU

COGS vs. Landed Cost:
Same Family, Different Jobs

When accountants toss around terms like COGS and landed cost, it’s easy to think they’re interchangeable, but they serve distinct purposes. Understanding the gap between them prevents double‑counting expenses and ensures you set prices that protect profit on every single sale.

Put simply, landed cost answers “How much did this shipment cost to get in the door?” while COGS answers “How much did it cost me to deliver products I actually sold this month?”

Term What It Answers Timeframe
Landed Cost “How much did this specific shipment really cost, door‑to‑door?” Per shipment/SKU
COGS “What were my direct costs of goods sold this period?” Monthly / annually

Landed cost feeds COGS. Think of it as the raw ingredients; COGS is the plated meal you serve to the accountant.

 

So what costs
are not part of COGS?

If it is not a cost you incurred to get it into your warehouse and ready for sale, it probably is not COGS. This includes things like your Facebook ad spend, founder salary, or your Shopify subscription fees etc/ Those live below the gross‑profit line.

The Five‑Step Calculation
(with a Hypothetical Example)

Numbers hit harder when they wear a name tag, so let’s walk through a real‑world scenario (with anonymised figures) to see how COGS shapes gross profit. By breaking the calculation into five repeatable steps you can slot in your own data and sanity‑check margins in minutes. Follow along with this example store that sell silicone baby spoons to see the process in action.

 

Example costs:

Item Amount
Units sold (May) 8 000
Sell price / unit $12
Supplier cost / unit $2.40
Freight (Supplier → Port) / unit $0.40
Cartage (Port → Warehouse) / unit $0.15
Import duty (5 %) $0.12
Packaging / unit $0.20
Custom marketing inserts / unit $0.10
Fulfilment fees (pick, pack & ship) / unit $3.50
Shopify payment fee (2.9 % + 30¢) / unit $0.66

calculations

Aggregate Direct Costs

COGS/unit = 2.40 + 0.55 + 0.12 + 0.20 + 3.50 + 0.66 = $7.43

Multiply by Units Sold

Total COGS = 8 000 × $7.43 = $59 440

Calculate Net Revenue

Revenue = 8 000 × $12 = $96 000
(Assumes discounts/refunds already netted out)

Compute Gross Profit

Gross Profit = $96 000 – $59 440 = $36 560

Find Gross Profit Margin

GPM = $36 560 ÷ $96 000 = 38.1 %

At 38 % GPM, Maya doesn’t have room for aggressive ads or a bad return month. Raising price $1 or negotiating $0.40 off FBA fees would push her above the 50 % “safe zone” we recommend for most DTC brands.

Common COGS Pitfalls
(and Quick Fixes)

Even diligent founders fall into familiar traps that inflate COGS or scatter costs into the wrong accounts. These mistakes distort gross‑profit reports, making healthy channels look unprofitable—or vice versa. The grid below spotlights the four errors we correct most often and the fixes you can implement this quarter.

Mistake Symptom Fix
Missing indirect freight Margins evaporate when container costs spike Track freight per SKU with landed‑cost software or detailed spreadsheets
Counting discounts as COGS Artificially inflated unit cost Keep discounts in Net Revenue, not COGS
Cash‑basis confusion Good months look great, restock months look awful Switch to accrual accounting so COGS matches the sales period
Marketplace fee blind spot Amazon “profit” lower than Shopify but you can’t see why Break out COGS by channel

How to Tighten
COGS in 30 Days

Knowing your true cost is only half the battle—next you have to improve it. The good news is that meaningful wins rarely require a total supply‑chain overhaul; targeted tweaks to pricing, freight strategy, or 3PL agreements can unlock margin fast. Pick one of the five moves below each week and watch the compounding effect by month‑end.

  • Audit Every SKU. Pull last quarter’s invoices and map each expense to a SKU or shipment.
  • Negotiate Volume & Terms. Even a 3–5 % reduction in supplier cost can add six figures of profit at scale.
  • Optimize Freight Mix. Shift from 30 % air / 70 % sea to 10 % / 90 % by forecasting demand earlier.
  • Consolidate 3PL Billing. Ask for per‑unit pricing that bundles receiving + storage to eliminate “hidden” fees.
  • Automate Fee Tracking. Use apps or custom reports to pull Amazon & payment‑gateway costs weekly.

The CronosNow Takeaway

At this point you’ve seen how granular cost tracking transforms affect decision‑making. Implementing the system, however can feel overwhelming alongside daily fulfilment fires. That’s where an eCommerce‑specialised accountant steps in, turning raw data into insights you can act on. Partnering with CronosNow means you’ll:

  • See true landed cost per unit, per channel
  • Spot margin leaks before they sink cash flow
  • Use the data to fix any Gross Profit Margin issues you may have

Ready to know your real numbers—and grow on purpose?

Book a free COGS clarity call today.
CRONOSNOW | CPG & ECOMMERCE ACCOUNTANTS
Gain Clarity. See the Path Ahead.

GP Margin & Reorder Clock: Master Inventory for eCommerce Cash Flow

GP Margin & Reorder Clock: Master Inventory for eCommerce Cash Flow

by | Jun 12, 2025 | Uncategorised

Inventory problems are often
self-inflicted, but they can be fixed

Julia didn’t lose customers because her factory ran late. She lost them because her cash did.

Every ninety days she wired a 30% deposit to Shenzhen for her best-selling wrap dresses. While the bolts of rayon crossed the Pacific, Julia’s Shopify dashboard glowed green—until, suddenly, it was empty. No dresses. No cash. No way to place the next order.

It didn’t matter that demand was high or that her ad campaigns were converting. Julia was stuck. Her GP margin simply couldn’t generate enough capital during the wait to fund the next run. And the longer her lead time, the bigger the cash gap became.

What Julia finally learned—and what this story will teach—is that gross-profit (GP) margin sets the pace of your entire business.

By the end, you’ll know the four things that affect your reorder pain, the capital each purchase order (PO) really costs, and why only clean accrual books let you see the truth.

You’ll also learn how to adjust the levers—pricing, COGS, and timeline—to build a reorder engine that runs without panic. Because in eCommerce, margin isn’t just about profit—it’s about survival.

The 4 things you need to know to improve inventory reordering and cashflow

  1. Your cashlock window
  2. Your GP Margin
  3. Your inventory lead time
  4. The quality of your data

 

 

Understanding the
Cash-Lock Window

The Cash-Lock Window is the hidden gap between paying your supplier and getting that cash back in hand. Eg. Production Days + Transit Days + “Safety Stock” Buffer

Why it matters: During this span your money is trapped inside raw materials and pallets crossing the ocean, so it can’t fund the next P.O., ad push, or payroll run. If your Gross Profit (GP) can’t refill the piggy-bank before the window closes, you’ll stall—even while sales look strong.

Stage Typical Range (days) What’s Happening to Your Cash
Deposit → Factory Finish 15-45 30 % (or more) wired, inventory still on the sewing line
Transit & Receiving 20-40 (sea) / 3-7 (air) Goods in containers, customs, 3PL check-in
Sell-Through Buffer 7-14 Stock on the shelf so you don’t sell out mid-launch

Numeric Snapshot

Let’s say you:

  • Wire a 30 % deposit today.
  • Wait 25 days for production + 30 days ocean freight.
  • Keep 10 days of buffer stock before re-ordering.

Your Cash-Lock Window = 25 + 30 + 10 = 65 days.
If your next deposit is $40,000, your GP over those 65 days must generate at least $40,000 plus cover ads and overhead—or you’ll hit pause on growth.

Fixing the gap:

  • Shorten the window – faster production, air freight for best-sellers, tighter safety stock.
  • Strengthen the bridge – raise price, cut landed cost, or finance the deposit.

Dial those levers, and the re-order clock keeps ticking—no stock-outs, no heartburn.

How Much GP Does
Your Timeline Demand?

Think of your profit margin like a bridge made of cash. Every extra day it takes to get your stock in—from factory to warehouse—adds more weight to that bridge. If your gross profit isn’t strong enough, the bridge collapses before your inventory even arrives. Here are some guidelines to consider:

Inventory Turns Lead-Time* Cash Locked Target GP % Story Cue
8 + (hyper-fast) < 20 days 40–50 45–55 % Like restocking energy drinks.
4–8 (steady) 20–45 days 60–90 55–65 % Think premium sneakers.
< 4 (slow) 45–90 days 90–180 65–75 % Custom furniture or Julia’s dresses.

*Production + freight + receiving.

Julia fell in the slow bucket with just 48 % GP. The table said she needed 65 % or she’d keep sprinting on a financial treadmill.

 

Your Four-Step Path

  1. Run the Calculator. Feed it your five answers; face the truth.
  2. Benchmark GP vs. the Table. Are you funding or starving your next PO?
  3. Close the Gap. Raise price, cut landed cost, or shorten lead-time. See this article on how to increase your GP and close the gap.
  4. Forecast & Review Monthly. Use accrual reports to track capital tied up versus capital generated, before the clock runs out.

Quick Walk‑Through: Suppose you sell 2,000 units at $30 each and your landed COGS is $12. Your GP is 60 % ($36,000 cash generated). With a 75‑day lead‑time, the calculator shows you need roughly $36,000 in hand 30 days before the next shipment lands to keep shelves full. Bumping GP to 65 % frees an extra $3,000—enough to place the next PO on schedule.

The Silent Thief: Lead-Time

While Julia fretted over ad ROAS, the calendar stole her money.

A typhoon delayed the vessel by nine days; customs flagged one carton for inspection—three more days gone.

Each delay pushed the cash-lock window wider than her GP bridge.

Factory queues, ocean freight, 3PL check-in— these aren’t headaches; they’re arithmetic that extend the timeline and increase the capital gap.

Turning Data Into Dollars >
Only With Accrual Books

Julia’s first accountant ran cash-basis books. April looked terrible (big PO hit); May looked amazing (all sales, no COGS). No wonder she missed the warning signs.

CronosNow rebuilt her ledger on an accrual foundation:

  • GP per SKU surfaced instantly.
  • Inventory turns matched the calculator’s math.
  • Work-in-progress sat on the balance sheet where she could respect it.

With real numbers, Julia raised price $3, negotiated $2 off COGS, and trimmed lead-time by booking vessel space early. GP climbed to 62 %; cash gap disappeared.

How CronosNow Helps eCommerce Sellers Get Reordering Right

Knowing your reorder rate and capital needs isn’t about gut feel—it’s about having clean data, clear visibility, and a partner who understands how product-based businesses actually work. At CronosNow, we specialize in helping eCommerce sellers like you move from guesswork to grounded decision-making. We don’t just tidy your books—we build the financial foundation you need to scale.

CRONOSNOW | CPG & ECOMMERCE ACCOUNTANTS
Gain Clarity. See the Path Ahead.

Disclaimer:

The Inventory Re-Order Calculator ignores the cost of capital, overhead, marketing spend, and other operating expenses. It is a guide, not a guarantee.

Engage a qualified eCommerce accountant for a full analysis.

From Red Ink to Black: The Story of an eCommerce Founder Who Rescued Her Gross Profit

From Red Ink to Black: The Story of an eCommerce Founder Who Rescued Her Gross Profit

by | Jun 12, 2025 | Uncategorised

Making money but not making profit

Isabella adored her small Shopify store. Her eco-friendly kitchenware line sold out month after month, yet her bank account never caught up.

One sleepless March night she finally faced the truth: Gross Profit was a razor-thin 18 %. If nothing changed, she’d run out of cash before summer.

What follows is the seven-step turnaround that saved her business—and the “mini-moments” that gave each step its urgency.

These are the lessons she learned along the way

 COGS first—operating leverage turns pennies saved into dollars earned.

  1. Freight strategy can double margins overnight.
  2. Test prices; fear is expensive.
  3. Demand real data—gut feelings belong in the kitchen, not the P&L.
  4. Paid ads = lab time—learn fast, then scale organically.
  5. Compound small tweaks.
  6. Know when to quit a product. 

1. Negotiate Down Your COGS
(Cost of Goods Sold)

Before Isabella opened a single spreadsheet, she asked, “Who actually controls the cost of every unit I sell?” The answer was obvious— her suppliers.

Every dollar she shaved off COGS would flow straight to profit thanks to operating leverage: her fixed costs (software, rent, salaries) stay the same while variable costs shrink, so each sale now contributes more margin.

What She Did:

  • Volume & Early-Pay Terms – She doubled her order size and agreed to net-30 payments; her supplier dropped unit cost 12 %.
  • Alternative Vendors – A regional manufacturer quoted 8 % lower landed cost on her fastest-moving SKU.
  • All-in Landed Cost Tracking – She bundled freight, duties, and packaging into one “true cost” number to spot hidden leaks.

Result:
Unit COGS down $0.92; GP jumped to 25 %.

2. Tame Your Freight Bill

The Invisible Margin Leak
Isabella often made use of air freight to make sure she had enough stock on hand. But each mile by air chewed away profit she never got to see. Freight costs rarely show up on the product page, but they scream on the P&L. Isabella had a choice, she could invest the capital she had in larger orders that were optimized for sea freight, or she could face the pain of high per unit shipping costs due to Air Freight. She took a deep breath and chose the sea freight option.

What She Did

Freight Tactic Impact on GP
100 % by sea,
0 % by air		 Shipping cost per unit fell from $2.80 → $1.05
Consolidated containers Eliminated double-handling fees
Lane-specialist forwarder Better routing, fewer accessorials


Result: GP climbed past 30 % without hurting customer satisfaction.

3. Pressure-Test Your Pricing

When Fear Meets the Calculator
Raising prices feels like squeezing a balloon—push too hard and it might pop. Yet most founders have no data proving that fear is real. Isabella discovered the money lost by not testing a higher price dwarfed any backlash she imagined.

What She Did

  • Split-tested $24 vs. $29 landing pages using Facebook ads.
  • 75+ orders on each page for statistical power.
Price Conversion GP / Unit
$24 3.6 % $8.00
$29 3.1 % $12.50


Result:
Site-wide price set to $29; GP leapt toward 40 %.

4. Collect Enough
Data Before You Pivot

Turning Hunches into Facts

Early results are emotional; real results are numerical.

Ten sales feel like a trend; 100 sales tell the truth. Isabella’s new rule—no decision before 100 orders or a full sales cycle— kept her from panicking over noise.

What She Did

  • Let tests run the distance,
    even if early numbers looked shaky.
  • Reviewed results only after
    hitting significance thresholds.

Result:
Fewer knee-jerk pivots, steadier growth.

5. Use Paid Ads as Your Lab

Because Science Needs Control Groups

Organic traffic is like the weather—great when it’s sunny, useless for experiments. Paid ads gave Isabella the dials and levers of a lab: controlled audiences, fixed budgets, and repeatable tests.

What She Did

  • Ran micro-budgets on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok to validate headlines, creatives, and price points.
  • Used split-tests to isolate single variables—no more guessing which tweak moved the needle.

Result:
Reliable insights in days, not weeks.

6. Iterate, Don’t Knee-Jerk

Stacking Small Wins into Big Margins

The end of one experiment is the start of the next.

Isabella learned to layer tiny 2 % gains—cheaper boxes here, an upsell there—until her GP looked unrecognizable.

What She Did

  • Introduced a checkout upsell and cross sell that lifted Average Order Value by 9 %.
  • Switched to padded mailers that shaved $0.18 per shipment.
  • Automated reorder points to avoid costly stock-outs.

Result:
Compounded tweaks pushed GP past 50 %.

7. Admit When Product-Market Fit Isn’t There

Cutting Your Losses to Save the Store

Some SKUs are brilliant ideas trapped in the wrong market. Clinging to them is like keeping a leaky lifeboat because you painted it yourself. When Isabella retired her under-performing bamboo set, she freed cash—and focus—for winners.

What She Did

  • Liquidated the stubborn SKU at breakeven.
  • Reallocated inventory budget to her hero product, which now financed the brand’s expansion.

Result:
Cash cycle shortened; stress level plummeted.

Six-Month Epilogue

Isabella’s store now funds growth instead of choking it—proof that profit problems aren’t destiny; they’re puzzles.

 

Metric
Measured		 March (Start) September
(6 mo)
GP% 18 % 54 %
Cash on Hand 2 weeks 2 months
Ad Budget $0 $10 k / month

 

 

The CronosNow ecommerce accountant Takeaway

Isabella didn’t just fix a margin problem—she rebuilt the foundation of her business. Her turnaround proves that gross profit isn’t just a financial metric; it’s the engine that keeps your business breathing. When you treat margin erosion as an emergency rather than a slow bleed, you unlock room to scale, advertise, and grow without fear. Whether it’s renegotiating COGS, validating your pricing with data, or killing off deadweight SKUs, the lesson is simple: your P&L doesn’t lie. Track it, trust it, and act decisively. That’s how founders stay out of the red—and in control.

 

CRONOSNOW | CPG & ECOMMERCE ACCOUNTANTS
Gain Clarity. See the Path Ahead.

6 Gross Profit Mistakes That Could Be Killing Your eCommerce Business

6 Gross Profit Mistakes That Could Be Killing Your eCommerce Business

by | Jun 11, 2025 | Uncategorised

Cutting Margins to the bone is bad for business

Peter runs a thriving fresh food delivery business focused on high-quality, locally sourced ingredients. But unlike shelf-stable products, fresh food has a short shelf life, high spoilage risk, and requires cold-chain logistics—all of which drive up costs.

With growing demand, Peter scaled quickly and hit $500,000 in monthly revenue. On the surface, it looked like a success.

But as cash flow pressures mounted, Peter began seeking funding to cover his operational costs and keep the business afloat. That’s when he came to CronosNow for help.

When we examined his books, we discovered his gross profit margin was just 16%—that’s only $68,000 left after cost of goods. After paying for warehousing, refrigerated delivery, packaging, staffing, and marketing, Peter was operating at a loss. His overheads were eating through every dollar before he could reinvest or draw a salary. He wasn’t running a sustainable business—he was burning through cash while revenue gave him a false sense of growth.

Peter didn’t have a marketing problem or even a product problem. He had a margin visibility problem—and no reliable way to track where the profits were slipping away.

With our support, Peter gained financial clarity, built a solid case for funding, and began restructuring his pricing and operations for long-term profitability.

Why Do Sellers Get Their Gross Profit Margins Wrong?

Nobody wakes up one morning and plans to run a business at a loss. Instead, sellers often unknowingly make critical mistakes that doom their business. Avoid these 6 mistakes Peter made, and your business will do much better.

1. Using Keystone Markup Without Justification

Many sellers, like Peter once did, apply a keystone markup—doubling their product cost and calling it a day. This feels simple and intuitive, but it’s often dangerously misleading. Without verifying whether that markup leaves enough margin for logistics, spoilage, fees, and marketing, sellers risk pricing themselves into the red.

In Peter’s case, he was charging what “felt right” based on industry norms. But when we broke down the unit economics, it became clear that his markup was too shallow to account for the additional handling, packaging, and temperature-controlled delivery. Keystone isn’t a pricing strategy—it’s a starting point that requires real analysis.

2. Getting Distracted by Revenue (While Profit Disappears)

Topline revenue can be seductive, but it doesn’t pay the bills. Peter was thrilled to hit $500K in revenue, but his bank account told a different story. Like many sellers, he believed that growth was the main indicator of success. In reality, that growth was hiding deep structural problems.

Focusing on revenue while ignoring gross margins is like celebrating how fast your car goes while the engine light is on. It looks great—until it breaks down. At CronosNow, we help sellers shift focus from vanity metrics to meaningful financial indicators—like contribution margin (profit after variable costs), CAC vs. LTV (Customer Acquisition Cost versus Lifetime Value of a customer), and net margin per SKU (profit per individual product after all costs).

3. Only Using Competitor Benchmarking

It’s common for sellers to anchor their pricing strategy on what competitors are doing. Peter’s prices were directly influenced by a similar fresh food brand operating in a nearby city. But what he didn’t consider was that they had scale, better supplier terms, and an in-house delivery team.

By benchmarking against businesses with different cost structures, you end up building a business on unstable ground. Worse, if your competitors are underpricing or running at a loss, you’re just copying their failure. True pricing strategy needs to be based on your own cost structure, value proposition, and business goals.

4. Competing on Price Instead of Value

Peter initially tried to undercut his competition by a few dollars per box. The idea was to win more customers by being cheaper. But the strategy backfired—his razor thin margins meant he couldn’t invest in better packaging, delivery tracking, or customer service. Reviews suffered, and he lost more customers.

Competing on price is a race to the bottom. Competing on value—like better product quality, faster delivery, or loyalty perks—gives you pricing power and customer loyalty.

5. Ignoring Hidden Costs

When we audited Peter’s finances, we found he was underestimating key cost drivers, like:

  • Last-mile refrigerated delivery
  • Cold storage variability
  • Spoiled product write-offs
  • Extra packaging to preserve freshness

These hidden costs were silently eating into his margins.

Many sellers don’t know their real cost per unit because they rely on simplified spreadsheets or ballpark figures.

A 3% spoilage rate here or an underestimated packaging cost there can destroy your margins over time. Knowing your true COGS means tracking every cost—from factory floor to customer door.

What Should Be Included in Cost of Goods Sold (COGS)?

COGS refers to the total direct cost of producing and delivering your product to the customer. It’s not just what the product costs from your supplier. It includes every expense directly tied to fulfillment:

  • Product manufacturing & shipping costs
  • Product packaging and labelling costs
  • Freight to your warehouse
  • Import duties & tariffs
  • Warehousing storage costs
  • Labeling, prep, or handling fees
  • Pick & pack fees
  • Marketplace fees
  • Payment processing fees

 6. Not Leaving Enough Profit to Pay for Ads

As Peter’s margins tightened, he started cutting back on ads—just when he needed them most. His low gross profit left no room to invest in scalable acquisition. Even when he got decent ROAS, the profits just weren’t there.

Paid advertising isn’t optional in eCommerce. It’s a fuel source. But it only works when your gross margin can carry the weight. The smartest brands work backward—setting target margins based on what they expect to spend to acquire and retain customers. If you can’t afford to advertise, the business model needs rethinking.

One of the most common mistakes sellers make is underestimating how much of their gross profit will be consumed by advertising costs. With digital ad platforms like Facebook, Instagram, Google, and TikTok becoming increasingly expensive, failing to allocate enough margin for customer acquisition can quickly turn a profitable product into a money-loser.

If your gross profit margin is too slim—say under 50%—you’ll find it difficult, if not impossible, to run ads at scale while remaining profitable. Even a Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) of 2.5 might not be enough if your cost of goods is too high relative to your selling price. The result? You either stop advertising (which stalls growth), or continue spending and quietly bleed cash.

To avoid this trap, your pricing strategy must bake in room for advertising from the start. Smart brands work backward: they estimate how much they’ll need to spend to acquire a customer and then ensure their gross margins can absorb that cost while still leaving room for operations and net profit. In other words, if you can’t afford to advertise your product profitably, you don’t have a pricing problem—you have a margin problem.

Why You Need CronosNow to Get Your Real Gross Profit Margin

At CronosNow, we help eCommerce founders go beyond surface-level finances and see what’s really happening beneath the revenue line.

We specialize in eCommerce and CPG accounting, helping you:

  • Track actual landed cost per product and shipment
  • Allocate costs across bundles, returns, and promotions
  • Understand profit per product, not just per month
  • Maintain clean, investor-ready financials
  • Spot and fix margin leaks before they snowball

Gross Profit Isn’t Just a Number. It’s the Lifeblood of Your Business.

Whether you want to grow, raise capital, or prepare to sell—clean, actionable financials are your foundation. If you don’t know what each sale actually earns you—after every cost—you’re flying blind. Let us help you get clarity, take control, and build a business that actually pays you back.

CRONOSNOW | CPG & ECOMMERCE ACCOUNTANTS
Gain Clarity. See the Path Ahead.