E-commerce Insights: Multichannel Planning Is a Complex Endeavor

I find it helpful to discuss sales in terms of absolute dollars (volume) and marketing expense in terms of a percentage of net sales (efficiency). Expressed as a percentage of sales, the marketing spend becomes the advertising-to-sales ratio (A/S). Don’t allow different departments to use different assumptions for margin or variable cost (e.g., do vendor co-op funds reduce marketing expense, or rather reduce cost of goods?). Task your finance team with ensuring marketing and merchandising use consistent numbers.