As eCommerce businesses scale, growth often outpaces visibility. Sales increase, channels expand, and payouts accelerate, yet many business owners still lack a clear view of what is actually driving profit.
This gap was the focus of a recent A2X × Xendoo webinar, where A2X Head of Marketing Geoffrey Gualano shared the stage with Lil Roberts, Founder and CEO of Xendoo, to break down the financial metrics eCommerce sellers should expect from their accountant, and why timely, accurate data is essential to scaling profitably.
Why eCommerce Accounting Fails Without the Right Metrics
Many eCommerce brands focus heavily on top-line revenue and marketing metrics, while financial metrics lag behind. According to Lil, that imbalance creates risk.
Revenue growth alone does not indicate success. Without understanding margins, refunds, fees, and net income, business owners make decisions based on incomplete information.
The Five Metrics Every eCommerce Business Should See Monthly
During the webinar, Lil outlined the core metrics eCommerce sellers should expect from their accounting team. These are not optional. They are foundational.
Revenue
Revenue provides the starting point. It is the total demand entering the business, the “clay” that everything else is shaped from. Without enough revenue, nothing else works. But revenue alone solves nothing unless it converts to profit.
Gross Margin
Gross margin reveals whether products are priced correctly once cost of goods and fulfillment are fully understood. A small shift in margin has an outsized impact on profitability. A product expected to run at 80 percent margin but delivering 73 percent can erase profit entirely.
Refunds and Discounts
Refunds and discounts expose product-level and operational issues. A SKU may appear to be selling well, but high return rates or aggressive discounting quietly destroy margin. Without this visibility, sellers mistake movement for success.
Gross Profit
Gross profit shows what remains after product and fulfillment costs, before overhead. This metric answers whether the business model itself works. Misclassifying marketplace fees, fulfillment costs, or payroll can distort this number and hide structural problems.
Net Profit
Net profit is the bottom line. It determines whether the business is creating value or simply sustaining activity. As Lil put it, breaking even means buying yourself a job. Net profit is what buyers, lenders, and investors ultimately care about.
Real-World Impact: Two eCommerce Growth Stories
The webinar highlighted how accurate metrics change outcomes.
One long-established eCommerce brand came to Xendoo after years of operating without detailed visibility. Once their books were cleaned up and automated using A2X, a product that appeared unprofitable was revealed to have a supply-chain issue, not a demand problem. Fixing fulfillment unlocked growth, and the business scaled from the $30M range to over $50M in just over a year.
Another brand manufacturing its own products needed deeper inventory insight. Integrating inventory software alongside A2X revealed which products drove margin and which stalled cash flow. Within eighteen months, the business doubled.
In both cases, growth followed visibility.
Why Accuracy Is Non-Negotiable in eCommerce Accounting
A major theme throughout the webinar was trusting the numbers.
Lil emphasized a simple principle: trust and verify.
In eCommerce, bank deposits are not revenue. Marketplaces and payment processors bundle fees, refunds, taxes, and adjustments into net payouts. Without correct mapping and reconciliation, income is overstated, and margins are fiction.
The source of truth must be the sales channels themselves, reconciled through automation tools like A2X and reviewed by eCommerce-experienced accountants who understand marketplace structures.
When accuracy is solved, reporting becomes actionable instead of debatable.
Watch the Full A2X × Xendoo Webinar
This blog captures only part of the conversation.
To see the full discussion, including live examples, dashboard walkthroughs, and deeper insight into how accounting supports eCommerce growth, watch the complete webinar here:
