Paul Waddy, author of "Shopify for Dummies," shares his direct, no-nonsense approach to fixing unprofitable ecommerce businesses. He provides actionable formulas and benchmarks for critical areas like product margins, inventory management, and ad spend, empowering founders to move beyond vanity metrics and build a genuinely healthy, profitable operation. This episode is crucial for any ecommerce professional struggling to translate high revenue into sustainable profit.
Free SEO/GEO/AIO Audit - Click HereScale Check from Learn eCommerceRyan sits down with Paul Waddy, author of Shopify for Dummies, former Head of Operations at Showpo, former CEO of The Horse, and founder of Learn eCommerce, fresh off one of the standout keynotes at Retail Fest: "How to Unfuck Your Business in Three Steps."Paul shares his journey from suitcases of shoe samples in Guangzhou to coaching hundreds of ecommerce brands including Naked Sundays, Budgy Smuggler, Maison de Sabré and LSKD, and breaks down exactly why so many ecommerce businesses are losing money without realising it, and the formulas to fix it.Packed with hard numbers: target margins, ad spend benchmarks, inventory formulas and the metrics every founder should be tracking daily.WHAT YOU'LL LEARN• What "fucked" actually means in ecommerce and the two ways brands get there: over-buying stock and operating at a loss• Why high revenue can hide a failing business, and why some founders are "the lowest paid workers in Australia"• The three foundations of a healthy ecommerce business: sales, gross profit, and OPEX + inventory• The break-even formula: OPEX ÷ gross profit• Why you need a ~70% product margin in today's market• The inventory formula: forward cover = lead time + 30 days safety stock• Why ad spend should stay under 20% of net revenue (MER) with a 20% net profit target• The #1 trait of successful founders: humility• Why ecommerce businesses are valued on EBITDA multiples (2–4x), not revenue• Underrated organic channels: SEO, newsletters, and why nobody in ecommerce is using Reddit (yet)TIMESTAMPS(00:00) Welcome Paul Waddy — "the godfather of Australian ecommerce"(01:11) From McDonald's and Bonds Couriers to trade unio