In ecommerce the profit sits in stock, and the stock is where the cash goes to wait.

Ecommerce looks like the simplest business to run a finance function for, because every transaction is recorded and the dashboards are excellent. It is not. The money is tied up in inventory bought months before it sells, the reported margin moves after the sale when returns arrive, and selling to another country can change the tax position without anybody deciding to do anything.

What is different here

Growth consumes cash, and faster growth consumes moreStock is paid for before it sells, often with a lead time measured in months, and a company growing quickly is continuously funding inventory it has not yet sold. This is why profitable ecommerce businesses run out of money. The seat's first job is usually the cash conversion cycle rather than the profit and loss, and a candidate who does not reach for it is the wrong candidate.

Contribution margin is the real number, and it is not in the accountsRevenue less the cost of goods, shipping, payment fees, marketplace commission, discounting and returns is the number that tells you whether a product or a channel is worth running. It rarely appears in the management accounts as a line. Building it, per product and per channel, is the piece of work that pays for a fractional CFO several times over.

Returns move the margin after the sale has been reportedIn some categories a quarter of what ships comes back, and the cost is not only the refund: it is the return shipping, the handling and whatever cannot be resold. A finance function that recognises revenue on dispatch and treats returns as an afterthought reports a month that looks good and a quarter that does not.

Selling across a border can change the tax position without a decisionRegistration thresholds, marketplace rules about who accounts for the tax, and customs treatment all shift depending on where the customer is and where the stock sits. This is one of the few places where a fractional seat with the specific experience saves more than they cost, because the liability accrues quietly and is discovered late.

What to ask, that you would not ask elsewhere

Build me a cash conversion cycle for a business buying stock on ninety day lead times. What do you look at first?
How would you construct contribution margin by product and by channel here, and what data would you need?
How do you handle returns in the management accounts so a good month is not reversed later?
Where have you dealt with cross border tax registration, and what caught you out?
At what point would you tell us to stop spending on a channel, and what evidence would you want?

Where it goes wrong

Judging channels on revenue or on blended return on ad spend. Neither survives contact with contribution margin.
Funding growth from the current account and discovering the problem when a stock order is due.
Hiring a finance seat with no inventory experience. The accounting for stock is where the errors are.
Leaving tax registration until somebody asks. The liability builds from the first sale, not from the question.

Which seat you are actually hiring

The sector changes the conditions, not the job. What each seat covers, what it costs and when it is the wrong hire is set out across the eleven seat pages, and the cost calculator will tell you whether the work you have described is really a fractional one. If the job turns out to be five days a week and permanent, we find full-time executives too.

Common questions

Growth consumes cash, and faster growth consumes more?

Stock is paid for before it sells, often with a lead time measured in months, and a company growing quickly is continuously funding inventory it has not yet sold. This is why profitable ecommerce businesses run out of money. The seat's first job is usually the cash conversion cycle rather than the profit and loss, and a candidate who does not reach for it is the wrong candidate.

What should I ask when hiring for ecommerce and direct to consumer?

Build me a cash conversion cycle for a business buying stock on ninety day lead times. What do you look at first? How would you construct contribution margin by product and by channel here, and what data would you need? How do you handle returns in the management accounts so a good month is not reversed later?

What goes wrong when hiring into ecommerce and direct to consumer?

Judging channels on revenue or on blended return on ad spend. Neither survives contact with contribution margin. Funding growth from the current account and discovering the problem when a stock order is due.

Check it yourself

General information about hiring, not tax advice. Registration thresholds and marketplace rules change and depend on where you and your stock are. Take advice on your own position.

The bench

Operators who have worked in ecommerce and direct to consumer

Filter the bench by sector: Ecommerce & DTC, Retail, Consumer apps, Marketplaces. Every operator checked by hand against their LinkedIn and CV, booked direct, with nothing taken from their rate.