A sample month

Illustrative brand. The structure, the reconciliation and the method are exactly what you receive. The figures are constructed — no client's numbers appear here. Figures are in Swedish kronor; your pack is produced in your own currency.

Operating result is struck after founder salary of SEK 744 000. Reported margin in an owner-managed company is not the same as what the business earns.

Block 1

Reconciliation

Month of October 2026

What the platforms claimed, against what the business actually sold
Meta reported revenue1 240 000
Google reported revenue690 000
Email platform reported revenue580 000
Sum of platform claims2 510 000
Actual net revenue1 937 000
Counted more than once573 000 (29.6% of net revenue)
Bank reconciliation
Net revenue, per the P&L1 937 000
less payment processing fees-46 000
less payout timing difference-23 000
Cash received in bank1 868 000

The 29.6% is a decision defect, not a saving. It means budget decisions were made against a revenue figure that does not exist. It is not counted anywhere in the value ledger below.

Block 2

Contribution P&L

October 2026

Every figure after direct costs only. Fixed overhead is carried once, at the foot.
SEK New customers Returning Total
Gross sales 1 352 000958 0002 310 000
Discount codes -155 000-64 000-219 000
Returns and refunds -74 000-80 000-154 000
Net revenue 1 123 000814 0001 937 000
Cost of goods -427 000-309 000-736 000
Shipping and fulfilment -124 000-89 000-213 000
Payment processing -27 000-19 000-46 000
Packaging -13 000-10 000-23 000
Contribution before marketing 532 000387 000919 000
Paid media -356 000-31 000-387 000
Email, SMS and retainer -12 000-40 000-52 000
Contribution after marketing 164 000316 000480 000
Percentage of net revenue 14.6%38.8%24.8%
Gross margin (% of net revenue) 62.0%62.0%62.0%
Discounts (% of gross sales) 11.5%6.7%9.5%
Returns (% of gross sales) 5.5%8.4%6.7%
Marketing (% of net revenue) 32.8%8.7%22.7%
MER (net revenue / marketing) 3.0511.54.41
Fixed overhead -395 000
Operating result 85 000 (4.4%)
Orders behind those figures
October 2026 New customers Returning Total
Orders 2 5101 6104 120
Net AOV 447506470
New customers acquired 2 190

Returning customers are 42% of revenue and 66% of contribution after marketing.

Block 3

Buyers or customers

Twelve monthly cohorts, first-order basis, averaged

Customers acquired on a discount, against customers whose first order was at full price
Per customer, SEK Discount-acquired Full-price first order
Share of new customers 52%48%
Repeat rate within 12 months 19%34%
Contribution per customer, 12 months 268581
CAC 201151
Contribution after CAC, 12 months 67430

CAC by cohort is an allocation, not an export field: paid media is split between the two cohorts in proportion to the first-order source recorded in the export. Stated because no order export contains a CAC.

Blended: contribution SEK 418, CAC SEK 177, after CAC SEK 241.

Cumulative contribution after CAC, SEK per customer
Per customer, SEK M1M3M6 M9M12
Discount-acquired -11429 4967
Full-price first order 79167274 359430
Blended 3282147 198241

A full-price customer pays back on the first order. A discount-acquired customer takes three months to break even and never earns more than the first one did on day one.

Half the acquisition budget buys customers worth a sixth of the other half. The discount is not the cost — the customer it selects for is.

Block 4

CAC ceiling

What a customer can be worth paying for, on the twelve-month cohort evidence
Current blended CAC177
Ceiling at 12-month break-even418
Ceiling at a 6-month payback target291
Marginal CAC on the last 10% of spend383

Basis: the last SEK 38 700 of October paid media acquired 101 new customers.

The average has room. The margin does not — the last tenth of the budget is buying customers at 92% of the 12-month ceiling.

Block 5

Cash cost of growth

How long money is out of the business before it comes back
Stock ordered ahead110 days
Ads paid before cash arrives7 days
Payment provider payout lag14 days
Cash conversion cycle96 days
Working capital needed to grow 30% next year1.9M

Growth of 30% is affordable on margin and unaffordable on cash. That is a different question and it is asked at a different time.

Block 6

Value ledger

The deliverable in miniature: dated, expected before, measured after.

Two of the three rows below are settled: SEK 70 700 a month, against an operating result averaging SEK 104 600 a month.

  1. 14 Mar 2026

    Free-shipping threshold SEK 499 → 599

    Expected before acting
    +SEK 9 contribution per order, order loss under 3%
    Measured at 90 days
    +SEK 11 per order, 1.8% order loss, +SEK 38 000 / month
    Provable

  2. 02 May 2026

    Welcome-flow discount 15% → 10%, top two sources only

    Expected
    CAC up 6-9%, 12-month contribution per customer up SEK 60-90
    Measured at 6 of 12 months
    CAC +7%, contribution +SEK 74
    Testable

  3. 20 Jun 2026

    Stopped SEK 41 000/month retargeting line, claimed revenue fully overlapping email

    Expected
    revenue loss 2% or less
    Measured
    0.9%
    Judgement

A note on your data

How customers appear in the file I work from
Customer First order Cohort
CUST-4471 2025-11-04Discount-acquired
CUST-8820 2026-02-17Full price
CUST-1093 2026-06-30Discount-acquired

Customer identifiers are replaced on the client's own computer before any file reaches me.

Every number on this page came from order-level data — the client's own export, nothing from a dashboard. That is what I do.

The overlap this month opens with takes a minute on your own numbers: run the calculator. Send me what it shows and I will tell you what I would check first: wasim@wasimanjum.com

The three pricing tiers and how an engagement runs are on the main page.