E-commerce Business Plan Template (Online Store Example With Unit Economics)
Online store plans that get funded show contribution margin per order after shipping, payment fees, returns, and advertising. This example for a fictional home-goods brand puts that math in one table so the reader can check it.
Example business: Fernway Goods, a direct-to-consumer brand selling linen kitchen textiles, shipped from a 3PL in the US. Fictional; the numbers are illustrative and consistent with each other.
Executive summary
Fernway Goods sells linen aprons, tea towels, and napkins made by a family workshop in Portugal, direct to consumers through its own store, with wholesale to independent kitchen shops from year two. The founders have run marketing for two consumer brands and hold a 2,600-person waitlist from a pre-launch campaign. They are investing $60,000 and are not raising outside money in year one. The plan projects $310,000 in year-one revenue on 4,100 orders at a $76 average order value, a $27 contribution margin per order after $19 in advertising, and cash-flow break-even in month eight.
Key numbers
| Products | 11 SKUs, $28 to $68, average order $76 |
| Orders year 1 | 4,100 |
| Gross margin | 61% after landed cost |
| Shipping and payment | $9.40 per order net of what the customer pays |
| Returns | 4% assumed |
| Customer acquisition cost | $19 blended (paid social, search, email to waitlist) |
| Contribution per order | $27 |
| Inventory | First order $38,000, 3 turns a year |
| Startup costs | $60,000 (inventory, photography, store build, launch ads, 3PL setup) |
| Break-even | Month 8 |
Market
US consumers spent an estimated $6.2 billion on kitchen textiles in 2025, with online share around 34% and growing. The target customer is a 30-to-50-year-old household that cooks most nights and buys kitchenware as gifts; the pre-launch waitlist converted at 3.1% from a $4,000 ad test.
Competition
Two established linen brands sell at $40 to $95 with strong reviews; Fernway competes on the workshop story and a lower price on the entry product. Marketplace sellers sell similar items at $14 to $22 with inconsistent quality; Fernway does not compete on price with them. Big-box home stores carry cotton, not linen, at similar prices.
Marketing and sales
Launch to the waitlist with a 15% code. Paid social at $6,000 a month from month two with a target 2.4 return on ad spend. Email every two weeks; 30% of revenue from returning customers by month twelve. Gifting push in November. Wholesale outreach to 60 independent shops in month ten.
Operations
Production in Portugal on 60-day lead times; two orders a year plus a holiday top-up. Inventory held at a 3PL that ships within one business day at $3.10 per order plus postage. Store on a hosted platform with payments, reviews, and email built in. Customer service by the founders through month nine.
Risks and what the plan does about them
- Ad costs rising: if acquisition cost passes $26, the plan pauses growth ads and leans on email and wholesale.
- Supplier concentration: one workshop; a second is being sampled in year one.
- Cash: inventory is paid 50% at order and 50% at shipment, sixty days before sales; the cash flow table shows the trough in month five.
Your online store plan, from your numbers
Answer twelve questions about your own business and get all ten sections written with the arithmetic shown, plus a one-page summary. Nothing invented; every figure to verify is listed. $29, once. Write my business plan