Begin with the money your business earns.
A marketplace may facilitate a sale without earning the full value of the merchandise. An inventory-led retailer may recognise product sales and carry merchandise costs. Agree the operating model with finance before building a dashboard. Do not compare a seller sales figure with platform revenue as though the two mean the same thing.
Work from retained orders.
Reconcile cancellations, full refunds, partial returns, discounts and tax treatment. Keep the time window consistent. If a campaign reports booked orders while finance reports net settled revenue, reconcile the difference before claiming performance.
Show the cost of serving the order.
Payment, fulfilment, support, failed delivery and reverse logistics can change the value of a sale. Allocate acquisition and programme costs once. Revenue growth should lead to a conversation about contribution, working capital and the cost base rather than an automatic claim of profitability.
Choose one clear decision.
A useful review asks whether to expand a category, improve seller readiness, change an offer or pause an acquisition experiment. Attach that decision to a consistent commercial definition. A small, reconciled dashboard is more useful than a large collection of incompatible headline numbers.
Bring a real question.
Be ready to challenge the plan.
Put the customer need, the evidence and the commercial outcome on the table. A recommendation should be able to defend its place.
Put your brief forwardAn original strategic framework. No completed client study or measured brand result is claimed.