E-commerce business launch and operating model structuring

We settle the structure of an online business before the group builds it, whether it sits inside an existing group or is a brand's first direct channel. We fix its commercial home, who holds the customer record, who holds the stock and who collects the cash, then sequence the build behind those choices.

The board approves the operating model in one sitting.

• A launch decision paper: the Control Matrix position the new business takes and the reasons for it.
• An entity and ownership map showing where customer data, stock and receivables sit.
• A launch operating model with roles, hand-offs and the decision rights of each function.
• A 24-month launch budget and cash curve, with the peak funding requirement named.
• A gate schedule: the measures the channel must meet before each tranche of spend is released.

• Your board reads contribution margin per order after fulfilment, payment and returns costs.
• Peak cash committed before the channel funds itself is named in the plan and tracked as the launch runs.
• Online orders come from customers you can contact directly, and you read that share against all online orders.
• Months from board approval to the first live order show on the board's own tracker.
• Spend is released as gates are met, and the board reads released spend as a share of budget.

Most launches begin with a platform choice and a campaign date. The questions that decide whether the business earns come later: whether it sits in the retail entity or its own company, who bears markdown risk, and which cash the first orders consume.

• The online project has a technology budget and a launch date but no agreed owner on the board.
• Store, warehouse and online teams each assume another will carry the stock.
• Nobody has set the contribution margin the channel must reach before it gets a second year of funding.
• A vendor proposal arrived before any view of the operating model existed.

Chairmen and chief executives of retail, distribution and consumer groups whose first online channel is being planned, and founders of brands in the Gulf that have sold through others until now and want a direct line to their buyers.

Qasim Abbas set the capital logic behind a blended last-mile fleet of about 1,000 vehicles at BaladiMart, so he reads a new channel by what it takes in cash before it returns any. Your launch plan is built on that test.

We draw on the Control Diagnostic and on the storefront platform, order system and payment gateway the group prefers, including Yelo. The group contracts with each platform vendor itself. See how fees work.

Should the online business sit inside the existing retail company?

The board chooses between two structures, and we set out both with their cash effect: inside the retail company, or in a company of its own. The choice follows who bears stock risk and who the lenders expect to be repaid from. We give your counsel the structure to draft from.

What does the board receive before it approves spend?

A launch decision paper, an entity and ownership map, a launch operating model, a 24-month budget and cash curve, and a gate schedule for each tranche of spend.

The Managing Partner reads your launch plan as it stands before a private briefing. We hand you the decisions still open before the board commits spend.