This episode reveals how out-of-stock bestsellers, particularly those attracting first-time customers, can decimate your ROAS and conversion rates. Ecommerce operators will learn why focusing on stock depth for key SKUs, rather than an expansive product range, is crucial for profitable scaling and optimizing ad spend on platforms like Google and Meta.
Key takeaways
Identify and prioritize your 80/20 products regularly – the few SKUs that drive the majority of your revenue and new customer acquisition.
Maintain deep stock levels for your core, high-performing products. Avoid spreading inventory thinly across too many SKUs, which wastes capital and reduces overall efficiency.
Align your advertising strategies with your current inventory. If your best-sellers are out of stock, adjust ad spend away from those products to prevent wasted ad spend and poor performance.
Resist the urge to introduce new categories or products to compensate for missing best-sellers. This often creates more operational complexity and diminishes profitability.
Regularly analyze product performance to understand which items are critical for first-time purchases and ensure these are consistently in stock to maximize new customer acquisition and ROAS.
If your best products are out of stock, your ads are going to struggle.
It does not matter how much product you have sitting in the warehouse.
If the products that actually drive new customer sales are missing, performance gets hit hard.
In this episode, Mark and Ian continue their 80:20 conversation and dive into one of the most overlooked parts of ecommerce growth:
Stock.
They break down: Why do some products matter far more than others
How a few key SKUs often drive the majority of revenue
Why stock depth beats endless product range
How being out of stock on the wrong products can wreck your conversion rate and ROAS
Why are first-time customer products especially important
How Google and Meta behave when the core products are missing
Why do many brands spread budgets across far too many SKUs
What happens when businesses try to use weaker products to make up for missing bestsellers
Why adding more categories often creates more problems, not more growth
How to think more clearly about stock rotation, product focus, and scaling profitably The truth is simple:
Most ecommerce brands are not short of products.
They are short of the right stock in the right lines at the right time.
If you want to scale without wasting money, this episode is worth watching. P.S. Whenever you’re ready... here are 3 ways Ian and I can help you grow your ecommerce business: 1. Talk to us. Book a call with us and let's talk about accelerating your growth - https://go.hammersleybrothers.com/scheduleuk-ant 2. Grab a copy of our book - https://gohigh.hammersleybrothers.com/get-the-book
3. Join the Ultimate Guide To Ecommerce Facebook group and connect with e-commerce owners who are scaling too - https://www.facebook.com/groups/924567391291786
What does this episode say about paid acquisition?
Identify and prioritize your 80/20 products regularly – the few SKUs that drive the majority of your revenue and new customer acquisition.
What does this episode say about supply chain & operations?
Maintain deep stock levels for your core, high-performing products. Avoid spreading inventory thinly across too many SKUs, which wastes capital and reduces overall efficiency.
What does this episode say about product & merchandising?
Align your advertising strategies with your current inventory. If your best-sellers are out of stock, adjust ad spend away from those products to prevent wasted ad spend and poor performance.
What does this episode say about conversion & cro?
Resist the urge to introduce new categories or products to compensate for missing best-sellers. This often creates more operational complexity and diminishes profitability.
What does this episode say about paid acquisition?
Regularly analyze product performance to understand which items are critical for first-time purchases and ensure these are consistently in stock to maximize new customer acquisition and ROAS.
