What’s the purpose of me sharing my monthly retail income reports?

Every month, I get a little raw and real about my revenue and return – good or bad.

Why do I do this? Because I believe that complete transparency is the key to eCommerce and online retail success. So often, you’ll see ads from gurus promising six-figure incomes in a matter of weeks, and the reality is that making money from your online store isn’t as cut and dry as they’d have you believe.

Yes, it’s absolutely possible to make serious cash from eCommerce, but it’s certainly not overnight – and mostly, it starts with smaller wins, like adding ten more sales to your weekly report, doubling your monthly revenue, or seeing 50% annual growth. Your retail price also has a lot to do with it – have a squizz here about how to set your prices.

In this retail income report series, I’ll be sharing my revenue, returns, top-line ad spend, and return-on-ad-spend (ROAS), in the hope that you get a real glimpse into the cash comings and goings of a working eCommerce business. Enjoy.

January 2021 Income

$173,000

Income Breakdown

$67,059 was from Social

$27,318 was from Email

$24,803 was from Paid Search

$27,970 was Direct

$18,910 was Organic Search

$7,644 was Referral

Any income not accounted for is from Display or Other

While this retail income report represents month-on-month growth of 28.1%, inventory shortages stalled what should have been our first $200k month.

January is normally a good month, but it should have been higher. We completely sold out of two key styles (with over 300 customers on a waitlist for them), so inventory shortages capped what would have been our first $200k month. That’s sad but honestly, it’s the nature of the beast.

Unfortunately, waiting on popular products with high demand to be ready (especially in a business where quality is really important) can hinder revenue. It’s a constant back-and-forth between wanting to meet demand, but also working to the normal constraints of our production team, who can only do so much.

Now, let’s take a look at ROI:

Social

Spend: $14,327.69
Return: $67,059
ROAS: 468.06%

Google Ads

Spend: $3,590.41
Return: $24,803
ROAS: 690.89%

We’re starting to play with some more fun email, blog and social marketing campaigns this month, so I’m excited to see if that grows our sales from organic search; playing with much more on-the-go and behind-the-scenes content that will help our customers come along on the journey with us. Stay tuned on February’s update for movement there. 

If this has raised any questions for you, please feel free to drop me a line. I love chatting with other online retail entrepreneurs about their highs, lows, wins and setbacks.

I’ve also opened my members-only Facebook group back up, where we chat candidly about the best systems, sites and social tactics (plus so much more) to others in the same boat. Join us by clicking here.