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🛒 E-commerce

Unit Economics for E-commerce

GMV (total sales) is a vanity metric if the contribution margin per order is negative. Shipping, fulfillment, and returns eat the margin unit by unit, not in the aggregate.

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Metrics and LATAM benchmarks — E-commerce

Monthly Revenue — Gross Billing

Status	Range
Healthy	No absolute benchmark: depends on margin, not volume
Alert	Revenue growing but NCM declining
Critical	Revenue with negative NCM per order

Active Customers — Recurring buyer base

Status	Range
Healthy	Base growing MoM and buying with frequency > 3×/year
Alert	Stable base but purchase frequency < 2×/year
Critical	Base shrinking or buying only once

Marketing Investment — Monthly acquisition spend

Status	Range
Healthy	Marketing / Revenue < 20% and LTV:CAC > 3×
Alert	Marketing / Revenue 20–35%
Critical	Marketing / Revenue > 35% without LTV to justify it

AOV — Average Order Value

Status	Range
Healthy	> $70 USD (depends on category)
Alert	$35–$70 USD
Critical	< $35 USD (logistics consumes the margin)

Purchase Frequency — Orders per customer per year

Status	Range
Healthy	> 4 purchases/year per active customer
Alert	2–4 purchases/year
Critical	< 2 purchases/year (single-purchase model)

Gross Margin — % remaining after direct costs

Status	Range
Healthy	SaaS: > 70% · Fintech: > 50% · Ecommerce: > 35%
Alert	SaaS: 50–70% · Fintech: 35–50% · Ecommerce: 20–35%
Critical	SaaS: < 50% · Fintech: < 35% · Ecommerce: < 20%

Fulfillment Rate — Logistics cost as % of AOV

Status	Range
Healthy	< 12% of AOV (picking + shipping + returns)
Alert	12–20% of AOV
Critical	> 20% of AOV (logistics destroys the margin)

Return Rate — % of orders returned

Status	Range
Healthy	< 8% for accessories/home · < 15% for fashion
Alert	8–18% depending on category
Critical	> 25% in any category

CAC — Customer Acquisition Cost

Status	Range
Healthy	LTV:CAC > 3× and payback < 12 months
Alert	LTV:CAC 1.5–3× or payback 12–18 months
Critical	LTV:CAC < 1.5× or payback > 18 months

Annual Churn — Customers who do not return to buy

Status	Range
Healthy	< 35% annual (retention > 65%)
Alert	35–55% annual
Critical	> 55% annual (single-purchase business model)

Other verticals: 💻 SaaS · 💳 Fintech · 🏢 Proptech · 🎓 Edtech