Channel by channel operating profit, named and optimised.
Channel-by-channel operating profit,
named and optimised.
A six to eight week financial and commercial assessment that rebuilds your P&L by channel, surfaces the real direct contribution per route to market, and prescribes the channel optimisation moves that compound operating profit. Built from twenty years inside CHANEL, including the ten-person team that defined the future of distribution.
Do you have a north star?
If you do, this project plugs your channel economics into it. If you do not, this project starts by helping you build one. Both are valid starting points.
Most founders run a competent multi-channel business without ever pausing to ask whether the channel mix is actually serving the strategic objective. The marketing team prioritises wholesale because the relationships are warm. The retail team defends boutique numbers because of overhead allocations they did not design. The e-commerce team chases growth without knowing the contribution per order. None of those conversations resolve until the channel P&L is rebuilt and the north star is named.
This work surfaces that gap and closes it.
Four artefacts, built to be installed.
Historical P&L by channel
Channel-by-channel reconstruction of the last 12 to 36 months showing real direct contribution by route to market. Shared costs allocated against the right drivers. Surfaces what each channel actually earns at the operating line, not the gross margin.
Channel mechanics map
For each active channel, the levers that move operating profit, the friction points, and the strategic role of that channel in your overall mix. Includes a client data ownership audit, because unless you control the data the relationship is not yours.
Forward forecast by channel
A 12 to 24 month forecast that ties channel growth to strategic priority and operating profit targets. Not a sales model, an OP-anchored plan. Each channel forecasted against its own contribution profile, not a top-down growth assumption.
Strategic objectives
The named decisions you walk away with. Which channels to grow, which to optimise, which to wind down, and the sequence that delivers maximum OP impact across 24 months. Each objective tied to the north star.
Six steps. Roughly six weeks. Tightly led.
North star check
Is there a defined strategic north star? If yes, we work from it. If no, we build one. Without a north star the channel mix optimisation has nothing to optimise toward.
P&L reconstruction
Historical channel P&Ls rebuilt from raw sales, COGS, and direct-cost data. Shared costs allocated to the right channels rather than spread evenly.
Contribution analysis
What does each channel actually contribute at the operating line? Where does volume mask thin margin? Where does premium pricing carry the whole P&L?
Client data audit
Who owns the client data? Brand or retailer? This determines whether the relationship is actually yours. Most brands underestimate how exposed they are.
Sales generation strategy
Where does the next dollar of revenue actually come from? Which channel responds to which lever? We name the activation sequence, not just the targets.
Forward plan and objectives
The 12 to 24 month forecast by channel, tied to the named strategic objectives. The plan you run against, not the deck you store.
Eight distinct channel types, each with different economics.
Every channel has a different cost structure, contribution profile, and strategic role. This work treats them separately rather than rolling them into a single sales number.
Standalone boutique
Own retail with full rent, rates, staff, fit-out. High customer relationship value, heavy P&L burden in markets with expensive leases.
Concession (department store)
Inside a host retailer. Lower fit-out, shared footfall, complex margin and overhead splits negotiated case by case.
E-retail owned (DTC)
Direct e-commerce on your own platform. Highest data ownership, full responsibility for acquisition, delivery, and returns.
E-retail third-party
Pureplayers and marketplaces. Selective distribution rules and retailer-controlled margin mechanics shape the contribution.
E-wholesale
Selling stock to online retailers. Same wholesale economics, different relationship cadence and merchandising rights.
Wholesale, traditional
The classic department store and specialist channel. Heavy A&P contribution typically required to drive sell-through.
Owned retail, multi-format
Mixed-format own retail beyond standalone boutiques. Different unit economics per format, often blended into one line.
Travel retail
Airports, ferry terminals, cruise. Discrete economics, separate planning cycle, distinct client, often the strongest contribution line in the mix.
Beauty first. Mechanics translate.
The channel structure was developed inside CHANEL’s beauty business, where the omnichannel question is most acute. The mechanics translate directly to:
The question is not which channels you can sell through. It is which channels you should refuse. A brand reveals itself in the doors it walks past.
Lead markets and discovery markets.
We are direct about where the depth sits. Lead markets are where twenty years of operating context applies fully. Discovery markets are where we work at a preferential rate, in active dialog, while we build the local nuance together. Both produce the same artefacts.
Where the depth lives
- United Kingdom
- Europe (FR, DE, IT, ES, BE, NL, CH)
- Canada
- Latin America
- Travel retail (global)
Where we work in dialog
- Asia (HK, SG, ID, MY, TH, JP, KR)
- Australia and New Zealand
- Middle East (UAE, KSA, KW)
Twenty years inside CHANEL, including the ten-person team that defined the future of distribution.
Most fractional CFOs read your P&L from the top down. Revenue, gross margin, marketing, structure, operating profit. That works for a single-channel business. For an omnichannel business it hides where the operating profit actually lives.
Inside CHANEL UK I ran a $280m commercial P&L across nearly 700 stores, e-retail, standalone boutiques, and the wholesale relationships with Harrods, Selfridges, Boots, John Lewis. I sat inside the ten-person internal team CHANEL convened to define the future of distribution for the brand. The work was channel-by-channel reconstruction, the same work this project delivers for founder businesses.
The reason this work is rare in the fractional CFO market is that very few advisors have actually run a P&L this complicated, with this much channel interplay, at this scale. That is the gap this project fills.
David Warwick. Former CHANEL Commercial Director UK. Former Regional CFO for a $1.1bn region across seven countries from Latin America to UK and South Africa. CIMA qualified, ADIT December 2026. Global clients.
Before you commit.
Is this just for beauty brands?
We are not a luxury brand. Does this still apply?
How does this differ from a fractional CFO engagement?
Do we need a north star already?
What data do we need to share?
How is the project structured?
Can you run this in markets where you do not have local depth?
How many of these projects do you run at once?
Begin with a discovery exchange.
This project starts with four short prompts, answered in writing, that surface whether the work is right for your business. Within 48 hours you receive a direct response: a scoped proposal, a different recommendation, or a polite redirect. No call required, no time committed before clarity is established.
Start the discovery exchangeFour prompts, ten minutes. Response within 48 hours. No retainer pitch.
This page is general business information. It is not regulated financial advice or a financial promotion under FSMA s.21. The Omnichannel Project is a structured commercial diagnostic, not regulated tax, legal, or investment advice. Confidentiality preserved on all submissions.