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Phase 1 of 8 · Foundation · for Indian ecommerce founders

Unit Economics & Pricing for D2C Brands

Before You Spend Another Rupee, Know Your Numbers

Real margins, true costs, and honest break-even numbers — before you scale.

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Rated 4.9 on Google200+ D2C brands

The ceilings

These Keep Most D2C Founders Up at Night

  • You're selling, but are you actually making money?

    Revenue comes in. You can't honestly say if each sale is profitable after product cost, shipping, returns, and ads. That uncertainty keeps you up at night.

  • COD is quietly eating your margins

    You accept COD because customers expect it. Extra fees. 25-35% RTO. Reverse shipping. The real cost chips away at every order — and it shocks most founders.

  • Marketplace fees are more than you expected

    You sell on Amazon or Flipkart. Commissions, closing fees, and weight charges add up fast. Most sellers never run these numbers before setting prices.

  • You're spending on ads but can't tell if it's worth it

    You put money into Meta or Google Ads every month. You can't say if the returns actually cover product, shipping, and returns. Not just top-line revenue.

  • Cash is always tight, no matter how much you sell

    Marketplace payouts take 7-14 days. Inventory needs upfront cash. COD settlements trickle in. Revenue looks healthy. Your bank balance says otherwise.

  • Your prices are based on guesswork

    You price by copying competitors or going with gut. Without a cost breakdown, you're either leaving money on the table or pricing yourself out of the market.

What we build for you

Here's what changes once we're done.

See the Real Profit on Every Product

Now you'll know exactly how much you make on each SKU — after product cost, packaging, shipping by zone, marketplace commissions, payment gateway fees, GST, and ad spend. No more guessing. Just a clear number for every order.

Know What Each Customer Is Really Worth

Now you'll see your true cost to acquire a customer on each channel and how much they're worth over time — based on repeat purchases, order value, and how long they stick around. You'll know exactly when a customer becomes profitable.

Know Exactly When You Break Even

Now you'll have a clear answer to 'how many orders do I need to cover my costs?' — factoring in rent, salaries, software, per-order expenses, and marketing. No more running on hope. Just honest numbers.

Test Big Decisions Before You Make Them

Now you'll see the financial impact of your ideas before you commit — what happens if you double ad spend, launch on a new marketplace, switch couriers, or add a product line. Confident decisions, not expensive experiments.

Never Get Caught Short on Cash

Now you'll have weekly and monthly cash flow projections that account for marketplace payment cycles, inventory reorders, seasonal patterns, and marketing spend. You'll see cash crunches coming before they hit.

Understand Every Fee Before You List

Now you'll see a clear breakdown of what Amazon, Flipkart, and Meesho actually charge you — commissions, closing fees, weight charges, storage — mapped to your specific products. No more fee surprises eating your margins.

How we deliver

The process, step by step

  1. We Gather Your Numbers

    First, we collect everything — product costs, supplier pricing, shipping rates, marketplace fees, ad spend, and sales data. If you're pre-launch, we use market benchmarks. No judgement, just an honest look at where things stand.

  2. We Find Every Hidden Cost

    Then we map every single cost — down to the label sticker and the payment gateway percentage. We uncover the costs most founders miss: RTO reverse shipping, packaging waste, seasonal rate changes. This is where the surprises usually are.

  3. We Build Your Financial Model

    Next, we create a complete, editable model in Google Sheets — customer acquisition costs, lifetime value, break-even points, channel profitability, and what-if scenarios. It grows with your business and you own it forever.

  4. We Help You Price It Right

    Based on your actual costs and competitor analysis, we recommend pricing that protects your margins while staying competitive. Different strategies for your website, Amazon, and Flipkart — because each channel has different economics.

  5. We Walk You Through Everything

    Finally, we sit down with you and go through every model, every number, every assumption. We teach you how to update inputs yourself and read your P&L dashboard. You walk away understanding your business at a level most founders never reach.

Price and terms

How the price is set

We quote Unit Economics & Pricing for D2C Brands on the 30-minute call, once we know your business and what you need. You get one price for the agreed scope, fixed in writing before any work starts.

  • Quoted on a 30-minute call, for your store and your scope.
  • Fixed for the agreed scope, in writing, before work starts.
  • Every price is + GST. You get a GST invoice from Grovesbox Private Limited (GSTIN 37AAKCG0804D1ZZ) after every payment.
  • Refunds work exactly as our terms say. Read the refund terms
Ashok, founder of Ashok Chakra Nursery

What clients say

“The website is excellent and much better than I even imagined.”

AshokFounder, Ashok Chakra NurseryRated 4 out of 5

Why us

What you get

  • See the Real Profit on Every Product
  • Know What Each Customer Is Really Worth
  • Know Exactly When You Break Even
  • Test Big Decisions Before You Make Them
  • Never Get Caught Short on Cash
  • Understand Every Fee Before You List

Scope

Deliverables

  • Financial models & tracking
  • Marketplace cost analysis
  • Fee structure mapping
  • Payment fee tracking
  • Shipping cost analysis
  • Accounting integration

Who you’ll talk to

One team, one number to call

Our own team, at our Visakhapatnam office. No freelancer hand-offs.

Dhushyant Deepak Chand Puredla helping Tarun Sai Kotni at his desk at our Visakhapatnam office
  • Call languages

    Telugu, English, Hindi, Kannada

  • Hours

    Mon–Fri, 9:00 am–7:00 pm IST

  • Office

    1st Floor, YBR Nilayam, Dayal Nagar Colony, Vishalakshi Nagar, Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh 530043, India. Open in Google Maps (opens in a new tab)

  • Other cities

    Meet in person: by appointment in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Surat

  • Your call

    Pick the language and the time that suit you in the form.

Fit check

Who this is for, and who it is not

This is for you if

  • You sell, run ads or offer COD, and cannot say what one order earns you.

Not for you if

  • A finance team already tracks the margin on each order.
  • You are a student or looking for a job. See our open roles and our programs.
  • The budget does not fit yet. Start free with the Growww↗ app, the 344-point CRO checklist and the full Shopify cost breakdown for India.
  • Running an agency? We take white-label and sub-contract work for agencies. Book a strategy call and tap “I’m an agency or developer”.

Tools & integrations

The stack we wire up

  • Google Sheets

    Financial models & tracking

  • Amazon Fee Calculator

    Marketplace cost analysis

  • Flipkart Seller Hub

    Fee structure mapping

  • Razorpay / PhonePe / Easebuzz / Cashfree dashboards

    Payment fee tracking

  • Shiprocket

    Shipping cost analysis

  • Zoho Books

    Accounting integration

FAQ

Commonly asked

Unit economics = Revenue per order minus all costs per order. For Indian ecommerce, include: product cost, packaging (₹15-50), shipping (₹50-150 by zone), payment gateway fee (2-3%), marketplace commission (5-27%), GST, and allocated ad spend (CAC). The result is your true profit per order. Our model calculates this automatically for every SKU.

A 'good' ROAS depends on your margins. For a product with 60% gross margin, a 3X ROAS means you're profitable. For 30% margins, you might need 5-6X ROAS. Industry benchmarks: Fashion 2.5-4X, Beauty 3-5X, Food 2-3X. But raw ROAS is misleading — you need to calculate ROAS after RTO, returns, and refunds. We model your 'true ROAS' in our financial analysis.

Your CAC should be less than 1/3 of your Customer Lifetime Value (LTV). For Indian D2C: Fashion CAC is typically ₹300-800, Beauty ₹200-500, Food ₹150-400. If your CAC exceeds your first-order profit margin, you need strong repeat purchase rate to be sustainable. We calculate your ideal CAC ceiling based on your specific LTV and margins.

The biggest profitability killers for Indian D2C: (1) High COD proportion (65% of orders) with 25-35% RTO rate, (2) Rising Meta/Google ad costs, (3) Marketplace commissions eating 15-30% of revenue, (4) Not accounting for reverse logistics costs, (5) Pricing without understanding true landed cost. Our unit economics model exposes all these hidden margin leaks.

Amazon India charges 5-27% referral fee (varies by category) + ₹4-55 closing fee + weight-based shipping. Flipkart charges 2-25% commission + fixed fee + shipping based on weight and zone. Meesho takes 0% commission but has lower ASPs. We map your exact fee structure based on your product dimensions, weight, and category to calculate true marketplace margins.

Gross margin = Revenue minus product cost and packaging. Net margin = Revenue minus ALL costs including shipping, returns, RTO, payment gateway fees, marketplace commissions, ad spend, software costs, and team salaries. Most Indian D2C founders only track gross margin and are shocked when net margin is negative. Our model shows both clearly.

COD adds ₹30-50 in gateway fees per order, and 25-35% of COD orders become RTO. Each RTO costs you ₹100-200 in reverse shipping + lost product cost risk. For a ₹500 product, a single RTO can wipe out the profit from 3-4 successful orders. We model the RTO impact and recommend strategies like COD verification, partial prepayment, and pincode-level COD blocking.
Book a strategy call

Let's Figure Out Your Real Numbers Together

A 30-minute call with our team. No sales pitch. We look at where your business is today and tell you what to do first.

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Calls Monday to Friday, in Telugu, English, Hindi or Kannada.

Unit Economics & Pricing for D2C Brands