Sales Are Growing. Why Isn’t Your E-commerce Profit?
How expanding brands can evaluate order economics, after-sales costs and customer engagement before increasing their next growth budget.
Your monthly sales report looks encouraging. Orders are increasing, campaigns are attracting customers, and another market is starting to generate revenue.
Yet the business is spending more on advertising, discounts, fulfilment and customer support. Returns require attention. Staff keep checking order details across different systems. Customers ask for updates while the team waits for answers from the warehouse.
At the end of the month, the additional sales have produced less additional profit than expected.
For brands selling through Shopee, Lazada, TikTok Shop and their own websites, this analysis becomes particularly useful when expanding into another country.
1. A growing market does not establish seller profitability
Southeast Asia’s e-commerce market continues to expand. Regional growth figures describe market activity; they do not show how much individual sellers earn.
| Regional measure | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|
| Platform e-commerce GMV | US$128.4 billion | US$157.6 billion |
| Year-on-year platform GMV growth | Approximately 12% | 22.8% |
| Content commerce share of platform GMV | 20% | Approximately 32% |
Sources: Momentum Works’ published summaries covering 2024 and 2025. The research covers Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Content commerce is included within platform GMV and should not be added again to calculate a market total. [1], [2]
The increase in content commerce’s share was approximately 12 percentage points. This indicates a change in how regional transactions are generated. It does not establish that content-led orders are more profitable for every brand.
A seller still needs to determine the cost of acquiring an order, fulfilling it and handling what happens afterwards.
2. Separate GMV, revenue, order contribution and profit
These measures answer different questions. Use a consistent definition across channels.
| Measure | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| GMV | Transaction value under the platform’s or report’s stated definition. |
| Net sales revenue | Revenue after relevant reductions such as discounts and returns, using a consistent accounting policy. |
| Order contribution | What remains after product costs and variable acquisition, selling, fulfilment and service costs. |
| Operating profit | What remains after relevant operating expenses, including fixed costs. |
Order contribution = net sales revenue − product cost − variable acquisition, selling, fulfilment and service costs.
This is a management calculation for this article. If seller-funded discounts have already reduced net revenue, deducting them again as a separate expense would understate contribution.
Order contribution also needs to cover website costs, software, management, facilities and other overhead before the business earns an operating profit.
3. Review costs across the complete order journey
Before the order
Check advertising, creator commissions, affiliate costs and seller-funded promotions. Distinguish platform-funded incentives from costs your business actually bears. Separate immediate transaction spending from broader brand-building activity and document the allocation method.
During fulfilment
Review picking, packaging, payment charges, shipping subsidies, failed deliveries and replacement shipments. When comparing countries, include the cross-border fulfilment and local return costs your business bears.
After the purchase
Review refunds, return processing, product write-offs, disputes and service effort. A returned product may be resold, repaired or written off; those outcomes carry different costs.
A refund also needs consistent treatment. Avoid counting both a reduction in revenue and the same refunded amount as another expense. Build a reliable picture of where each order’s contribution goes.
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4. The same sales value can produce very different results
Consider two hypothetical orders, each generating US$50 in net sales revenue. One requires heavier acquisition and fulfilment spending. The other carries lower associated costs.
| Per-order item | Order A | Order B |
|---|---|---|
| Net sales revenue | $50 | $50 |
| Product cost | −$20 | −$20 |
| Platform or payment charges | −$5 | −$5 |
| Allocated acquisition cost | −$9 | −$4 |
| Seller-funded fulfilment | −$4 | −$3 |
| Expected returns and service cost | −$3 | −$2 |
| Contribution before fixed overhead | $9 | $16 |
| Contribution / net revenue | 18% | 32% |
Illustrative assumptions only. These are not current marketplace fees, industry benchmarks or measured customer results. Revenue is after seller-funded discounts and excludes tax and customer-paid shipping. Fixed overhead is not included.
Both orders add $50 to revenue. Order B leaves $7 more to cover overhead and profit.
What happens when order volume grows but contribution falls?
Suppose a business initially completes 1,000 orders at $50 net revenue and $16 contribution per order. It generates $50,000 in net sales revenue and $16,000 in total contribution.
If orders rise to 1,300 while contribution falls to $9 per order, it generates $65,000 in net sales revenue and $11,700 in total contribution.
Under these hypothetical assumptions, revenue increases 30%, while total contribution falls approximately 26.9%. This is a calculation example, not a prediction of an individual business’s results.
5. Calculate the work required to resolve an order problem
A customer asks where their parcel is. The agent searches for the order, checks tracking, contacts the warehouse and waits for confirmation. The customer follows up before an answer arrives. Another employee opens the conversation and repeats part of the investigation.
This work may be spread across several departments, making it difficult to see in a channel sales report.
Service effort cost = number of cases × average staff time per case × loaded hourly labour cost.
| Monthly measure | Current workflow | Improved workflow |
|---|---|---|
| Cases requiring order investigation | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| Total active staff time per case | 12 minutes | 8 minutes |
| Staff hours required | 200 hours | Approximately 133 hours |
| Capacity released | — | Approximately 67 hours |
Hypothetical workload example. Count active work across participating staff, including follow-up, rather than elapsed waiting time alone. Loaded labour cost includes the employment costs allocated to an hour of staff time.
At an assumed loaded labour cost of $10 per hour, the released capacity has an equivalent value of approximately $667 per month.
That is capacity value, rather than an automatic cash saving. A financial saving occurs when the change reduces overtime, outsourced work, staffing expenditure or another actual expense. Alternatively, the capacity may allow the existing team to support more orders. Avoid double-counting labour already included elsewhere.
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6. Service expectations make repeated work harder to ignore
Zendesk’s CX Trends 2026 research reports that 74% of consumers are frustrated by having to repeat information to different agents, while 86% say responsiveness and accurate resolution strongly influence their purchasing decisions. [3]
The research combined surveys of 6,182 consumers and 5,115 business respondents across 22 countries, conducted in June 2025. These are global findings, rather than statistics specific to Southeast Asian marketplace buyers.
For an expanding brand, this supports a practical question: can the employee handling a request see the information needed to continue it?
CXBOX COMMERCE extends Zendesk with supported marketplace conversations, order information and commerce tools. Its capabilities include customer order-note display, vouchers, and cancellation or refund-request notification tickets, depending on the connected platform and configuration. [4]
A notification makes an event visible. The business still needs a process for reviewing it and deciding what action is appropriate.
Zendesk customer service software provides the workspace around which teams can organise ownership and follow-up. Where responsibility and handoffs need attention, DEMETER ICT’s Customer Experience Optimization services provide a relevant route for discussing the process alongside the system.
7. Repeat purchases also need an economic test
A returning customer may require less acquisition spending. However, a repeat order can still include discounts, messaging costs, fulfilment and service work. Evaluate its contribution using the same discipline.
Start with a specific reason to contact an eligible audience: a relevant product launch, useful product information or an appropriately timed follow-up.
CXBOX HUB supports targeted messaging campaigns and configured engagement follow-ups alongside Zendesk. Its retail and e-commerce engagement workflows include tracked-link click follow-ups and supported inactivity-based re-engagement. Purchase-based scenarios require relevant purchase data and integration; messaging inactivity alone does not establish an absence of purchases. [5]
Before launch, define the audience, permission and sending eligibility, campaign cost and reply-handling process.
To assess commercial impact, track attributable contribution after campaign costs. Where practical, compare with a similar eligible group that did not receive the campaign. This helps distinguish incremental purchasing from orders customers might have placed anyway.
8. Find the cause before selecting the fix
Different problems require different responses. Use the symptoms to decide what evidence to collect first.
| What you observe | Investigate first | Possible next action |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue rises; contribution per order falls | Acquisition costs, discounts and product mix | Adjust campaign allocation, offers or assortment. |
| Cancellations rise | Stock accuracy, delivery promises and reasons | Correct availability or fulfilment processes. |
| Returns rise | Descriptions, quality, fit and return reasons | Improve information, quality or packaging. |
| Service work grows faster than orders | Repeated contacts, information searches and handoffs | Improve order context, ownership and workflow. |
| Repeat purchasing is weak | Product cycle, first-order experience and relevance | Test a suitable follow-up with an eligible audience. |
Customer service technology can address information and workflow problems. Pricing, product quality and logistics issues require action in those areas as well.
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9. Build a monthly view that connects growth with operating results
Start with a manageable set of measures:
- Contribution per order: split by country, channel and major product group.
- Acquisition cost: separate new-customer acquisition from other marketing activity.
- Cancellation and return rates: use consistent definitions and reason codes.
- Service cases per 100 orders: distinguish unique cases from individual messages.
- Active handling time and repeated contacts: understand actual service effort.
- Repeat-customer contribution: compare similar purchase cohorts.
- Campaign contribution: deduct relevant promotional, messaging and service costs.
Choose a reporting period that allows returns and refunds to emerge. A campaign reviewed immediately after checkout may look stronger than it does after the return window.
Frequently asked questions
Why can e-commerce sales grow while profit falls?
The business may be spending more to acquire, fulfil and support each order. Changes in discounts, product mix, returns and fixed operating expenses can also reduce profitability.
Is a high return on advertising spend enough to prove profitability?
ROAS compares attributed revenue with advertising spend. It does not, by itself, account for product costs, platform charges, fulfilment, returns, service or overhead.
Will improving customer service automatically increase profit?
The effect depends on the problem addressed and the outcome achieved. Measure handling effort, repeat contacts, actual expenditure and commercial results rather than assuming a universal profit increase.
Should a growing brand prioritise acquisition or retention?
Compare the contribution and incremental opportunity of each. Also check whether unresolved product or delivery problems are undermining both.
