How to Audit Your E-commerce Growth Stack

Before adding new channels, audit what you already have.

Most e-commerce brands come to us wanting to add something: a new channel, a new platform, a new campaign type. The instinct to expand is understandable. But it is usually the wrong move.

The highest-return work is almost always in what already exists. Underperforming email flows. Conversion rates below category benchmarks. Paid search campaigns running on autopilot with no active optimisation cycle. An affiliate programme with 20 active partners when it should have 80.

Start with paid acquisition efficiency. What is your blended ROAS across all paid channels? What is the marginal ROAS on new spend? Is it improving or declining month on month?

Then look at conversion rate. What is your site-wide conversion rate? How does it compare to category benchmarks? Where in the funnel is the drop-off largest?

Then email and retention. What percentage of your revenue comes from email? What is your repeat purchase rate? What is your average customer LTV versus CAC?

Then organic and affiliate. What share of revenue comes from channels you do not pay per click for? Is that share growing or shrinking?

Finally, commercial margin. Which products and categories are generating margin, not just revenue? Are your paid campaigns promoting your most profitable lines?

Most brands who go through this exercise find that two or three channels are the priority, not the expansion they were planning. The growth is already in the stack.