Executive overview

This is a 1-year-old Netherlands-based established fashion/design e-commerce store that generated €146,679 in trailing revenue with €41,723 net profit (≈28% profit margin). The business shows strong seasonality with a concentrated Q4 (Nov–Dec) performance and several high months (June/July/Dec). Valuation multiples listed are 2.1× profit and 0.6× revenue, implying an implied enterprise value ≈ €88k (profit × 2.1 ≈ €87.6k; revenue × 0.6 ≈ €88k).

At a glance the business is profitable, has a sizeable email list (~5,990) and a decent customer base, but the dataset contains internal inconsistencies (see below) and many growth levers remain untapped; primarily conversion optimization, retention/email automation, SEO, and paid ad scaling. The business is an attractive small buy if the buyer can validate the numbers, shore up data gaps, and execute a 3–6 month growth plan focused on cost-efficient customer acquisition and retention.

Key Quantitative Checks & Computed Metrics:

• Trailing 10-month revenue (Oct 2024–Jul 2025): €146,679.

• Trailing profit: €41,723 → Net margin ≈ 28.5% (41,723 / 146,679).

• Monthly average revenue: €14,667 (matches the listing).

• Orders: 2,222 → Implied AOV (revenue / orders) = €146,679 / 2,222 ≈ €66.01.

  • Important: Flippa / listing stated AOV €55.00, which conflicts with the arithmetic above. Either orders or revenue or stated AOV is incorrect. Buyer must get transaction-level detail.

• Customers: 6,141 and Email list: 5,990.

  • Data inconsistency: Orders (2,222) < Customers (6,141). That makes standard metrics (repeat rate, orders per customer) nonsensical if labels are used in the usual way. If “customers” means unique site visitors or email subscribers, clarify. If “customers” means paying customers, then average orders per customer = 2,222 / 6,141 ≈ 0.362 orders/customer. This is impossible if customers = paying customers. This must be resolved before any purchase.

• Profit multiple / valuation check: Profit × 2.1 ≈ €87,618. Revenue × 0.6 ≈ €88,007; this is internally consistent with a sale price in that band.

Website Performance & Product Metrics:

Note: I did NOT have live access to Google Analytics / Search Console / server logs. The following mixes direct arithmetic above with industry checks and recommended verification steps.

Website speed

• Current status (unknown): No Lighthouse or GTmetrix scores provided. Speed is an unknown risk.

• Impact: slow speed reduces conversion and SEO. Given fashion sites are image-heavy, expect image optimization, CDN, and lazy loading to be first wins.

• Recommendation: require seller to provide Lighthouse report and hosting details (server, CDN, caching, page sizes). Minimum acceptable Lighthouse performance: >50 mobile; >80 desktop for a commerce site pre-sale.

Product variation & number of SKUs

• Not provided. Need SKU count, best-seller concentration (top 10 SKUs % of revenue), and supplier lead times.

• Why it matters: SKU concentration drives inventory risk. A catalog concentrated in a few SKUs is easier to scale but more vulnerable to supplier disruption.

AOV and Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV)

• AOV (calculated): ≈ €66.01 (from revenue/orders). This conflicts with the listed €55 AOV. Be sure to verify transaction data.

• CLTV: not directly calculable without purchase frequency, gross margins and retention. With missing/contradictory customer counts, we cannot reliably compute CLTV. Buyer should ask for cohort data (LTV by cohort 0–6 months / 6–12 months).

Repeat Customer Rate/Purchase Frequency:

• Unavailable / conflicting. With orders < customers as reported, repeat rate cannot be trusted. Request raw order/customer dataset to compute:

  • Repeat purchase rate

  • Average orders per buyer

  • Time between purchases

Website Conversion Rate

• Not provided. Must request GA/GA4 or platform conversion data (sessions → transactions). For reference: EU niche fashion sites often convert at 1–3% organically; paid traffic varies.

Website Design & Presentation

• Qualitative note (based on listing & niche): Appears positioned in design/style niche. Buyer should audit to confirm product page clarity, photography quality, UX for mobile, clear returns and shipping messaging, cross-sell/up-sell presence, and trust signals (payments, reviews).

• Trustpilot/Reviews: Listing referenced trust links; buyer must verify live Trustpilot/Google reviews and load them on the product pages.

Brand Positioning & Customer Sentiment

• Opportunity: Niche design positioning can command higher margins if curated properly. Email list ~5,990 suggests decent interest capture; leverage for retention & LTV.

• Unknown: social following, community engagement, NPS, sentiment across marketplace reviews.

Marketing & Efficiency

• Email list nearly equal to “customers” figure (5,990 vs 6,141); either the brand has exceptional list capture or labels are mixed. If list is engaged, email marketing automation (welcome, cart abandonment, win-back, VIP flows) is low-cost, high ROI.

• Paid efficiency: CAC and ROAS unknown. Need ad account access (Meta, Google) and breakdown of marketing spend in the monthly expenses to judge CAC and viable scaling levels.

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) & scalability

• CAC unknown. Without ad spend split, marketing costs, creative library, and channel performance we cannot estimate.

• Scalability potential: High if CAC < LTV and if product margins support paid scaling. Low risk path: focus on retention, doubling conversion and increasing AOV via bundles and personalization.

Product offering & repositioning potential

• Strength: Niche design/stylish products that can be repositioned as premium curated lifestyle brand.

• Opportunities: move upmarket (higher price points, limited-edition drops), subscription boxes, B2B wholesale/homeware interior designers, collaborations with influencers or designers.

Financial Analysis & Commentary

• Revenue profile by month (key notes):

  • Q4 2024 strong: Nov €25,316 and Dec €32,579 (seasonality/holiday). Oct launch small as expected.

  • Post-Q4 slump Jan–Mar; recovery with May–Jul uptick (June €23,796; Jul €20,757).

• Profitability: Net profit margin ≈ 28% is strong for a 1-year old e-commerce business. It indicates tight cost control or favorable pricing/margins. Buyer should confirm:

  • What is included in “expenses” (COGS vs. ad spend vs. owner compensation)?

  • Are there any one-off expenses in the table (e.g., setup fees, inventory liquidation)?

• Multiples: 2.1× profit is conservative-to-fair for a new business; 0.6× revenue is low but aligns with a buyer pricing on immediate cash flow rather than growth.

• Valuation sanity check: Valuation implied by both multiples is consistent (~€88k).

• Red flags: possible misreporting of AOV or customer count. Buyer must request bank statements, merchant processor reports, and a P&L that ties to the numbers.

Marketing (Paid & Organic)

Strengths / opportunities:

• Email list (~6k): Immediate channel to increase sales via automated flows, segmentation, and re-engagement campaigns. Low-cost way to lift revenue 10–30% in months 1–3 if executed.

• Seasonality knowledge: Strong Q4 performance. Plan inventory and paid budgets to exploit this.

• Niche product appeal: Good creative potential for Instagram, Pinterest, and designer-focused platforms.

Gaps & unknowns (must validate):

• No data on channels: organic search traffic, paid ad spend, ROAS, CPCs, social performance, influencer partnerships.

• No copy of creatives, UGC, video assets, or ad funnels.

• SEO: Domain Authority reported as 2 (very low). This is a big upside for organic SEO gains, but also means the site currently gets little organic authority.

Tactical levers:

• Short term (30–90 days): Implement or optimize email flows (welcome, cart recovery, post-purchase), launch 2–3 paid prospecting campaigns with lookalikes, optimize product pages for conversion (photos, social proof, scarcity).

• Mid term (3–9 months): SEO content plan targeted at design/style shoppers, influencer collaborations for UGC, A/B test pricing and bundles.

• Long term: Wholesale channels, product line expansion, international shipping optimization, brand partnerships.

Operational Efficiency & Supply Chain

Unknowns to validate:

• Supplier contracts, lead times, MOQ, margin by product, return rates, inventory on hand, warehousing / fulfillment (in-house vs 3PL), fulfillment costs, shipping agreements, and drop-ship reliability.

Risks:

• If single supplier or long lead times → inventory & seasonality risk.

• Returns and warranty processes not disclosed → potential cost center

• Fulfillment scalability: if currently owner-fulfilled, growth will be limited unless 3PL is in place.

Recommendations:

• Request inventory snapshot (SKU, stock qty, cost per unit) and supplier contact details. Confirm if inventory is included in sale.

• Get historical returns by SKU and RMA policy documents.

Customer Data & Relationships

Positives:

• Email list size ~5,990, a clear asset.

• Number of customers reported is large but inconsistent with orders. Need to clarify.

Data & privacy risks:

• Must verify GDPR compliance (Netherlands/EU). Cookie consent, privacy policy, lawful basis for emails, DPA with processors, data retention policy.

• Confirm how email list was built (organic opt-in vs purchased lists). Purchased lists are low value and risky for deliverability and compliance.

Customer support

• No data provided on response times, support channels, disputes, chargebacks. Ask for CS logs and average response SLA.

Legal & Compliance Due Diligence

Immediate items to request/validate prior to closing

1. Company formation & ownership docs: Verify legal owner, corporate structure, any co-owner claims.

2. Tax / VAT filings for Netherlands and any EU cross-border VAT handling. Request recent VAT returns.

3. Contracts: supplier agreements, fulfillment / 3PL contracts, employee/contractor agreements (if any), influencer/affiliate agreements.

4. IP: trademarks, copyrights on branding/images, and any licensing agreements.

5. Consumer law compliance: returns policy, warranty, shipping times and disclosures per EU consumer rights.

6. Data protection: GDPR compliance proof, Data Processing Agreements, privacy policy, and cookie consent implementation.

7. Payment processor accounts: history of chargebacks, disputes, seller account standing.

8. Pending claims: ask for any legal claims or outstanding liabilities.

9. Platform rules: ensure no policy violations on ad accounts or third-party marketplaces.

Non-compliance or missing documents materially reduce valuation or require indemnities.

Challenges Identified

1. Data inconsistencies (AOV / customers / orders). This is the highest priority red flag. Must be reconciled with transaction-level data and bank statements.

2. Low SEO authority (DA = 2): Organic growth will require work and time.

3. Unclear CAC / marketing performance: Buyer cannot assess scalable paid growth without ad accounts & spend breakdown.

4. Unknown inventory & supplier risk: Potential for stockouts or supply chain disruption.

5. Seasonality dependence on Q4: Buyer must diversify revenue months or manage cash flow for inventory for Q4.

6. Compliance & GDPR risk: Absent documentation could mean potental fines or marketing limitations.

7. Potential overvaluation for 1-yr business if growth proof is not substantiated; earnings quality needs vetting (one-time boosts? owner intensive work?).

8. Customer engagement unknown: Email list may be stale; unknown email open/click rates.

Recommendations:

Immediately Before Making An Offer (Deal breakers & data request):

Ask seller to provide, at minimum:

• Raw transactions (CSV) for the full period (order_date, order_id, customer_id, SKU, price, COGS, discounts, shipping, taxes). This must tie to bank/merchant statements.

• Access (view only) to Google Analytics / GA4, Google Search Console, Shopify/WooCommerce admin (orders & customers), and ad accounts (Meta/Google/others).

• Merchant processor statements (Stripe/Adyen/PayPal) for last 12 months.

• Detailed P&L that breaks out ad spend, COGS, shipping, returns, salaries/owner draw, platform fees.

• Inventory list + supplier contracts + typical lead times. Confirm whether inventory is included in sale.

• Email marketing metrics (platform exports): open rates, flows, revenue by flow.

• List of all accounts to be transferred (domains, hosting, social, merchant, ad, analytics).

• Legal docs (company formation, VAT filings, contracts, IP registrations, privacy policy, cookie consent).

Deal breakers: inability to produce transaction-level data or merchant/bank statements; unresolved major tax / VAT liabilities; fraudulent traffic or payments.

0–3 Months (Quick wins / stabilization):

• Reconcile and correct data issues.

• Run full technical/site audit (Lighthouse, GTmetrix), fix speed issues (image compression, CDN).

• Implement or optimize 4–6 email flows (welcome, browse abandonment, cart abandonment, post-purchase, win-back).

• Audit best sellers and margins; renegotiate supplier terms where possible.

• Run a 30-day paid test (small budgets) to validate CAC and ROAS; focus on high-intent audiences and retargeting.

3–9 Months (Scale & optimization)

• SEO content strategy to build organic authority (target buyer intent + design keywords).

• Implement A/B tests on product pages (images, copy, reviews, guarantee, checkout friction).

• Bundle and cross-sell to increase AOV; consider free shipping threshold optimization.

• Consider international expansion (EU neighboring markets) after validating shipping and VAT.

9–18 Months (Value creation):

• Expand SKU depth with higher-margin curated products, limited drops, and collaborations.

• Explore B2B or wholesale channels.

• Prepare brand for higher multiple by proving recurring revenue and diversified channels.

Suggested Purchase Valuation Posture

• Because the business is 1 year old, with strong net margin but data inconsistencies, the buyer should:

  1. Insist on transaction-level verification.

  2. Use a conditional offer (subject to satisfactory data / bank statements / inventory verification).

  3. Consider an earn-out or holdback structure to bridge seller confidence and buyer risk (e.g., part upfront + part tied to 6–12 month verified performance).

• The listed multiples (2.1× profit; 0.6× revenue) are reasonable starting points, but final price should reflect verified quality of earnings and validated growth channels. If seller proves stable repeat business and low CAC, a higher multiple is justifiable.

Questions To Communicate To The Seller (Must-ask):

1. Please provide raw order export (order lines) for the life of the business and merchant/bank statements that reconcile to the reported revenue.

2. Explain discrepancy between reported AOV €55 and arithmetic AOV ≈ €66 (revenue/orders). Which number is correct? Provide data export to prove.

3. Clarify the definition and source of “Number of customers = 6,141” is this paying customers or contacts/subscribers? Provide customers export (unique paying customers).

4. Provide advertising accounts (Meta, Google) with spend & ROAS history and creative assets.

5. Show inventory list and confirm whether inventory is included in the purchase. Provide supplier contacts and lead times.

6. Provide GA/GA4 access and Search Console access. What is monthly active traffic (users/sessions) by channel?

7. Provide GDPR/compliance documentation, privacy policy, and any DPA agreements.

8. Why are you selling at this stage? Any strategic reason or operational hurdles?

Conclusion

This is a profitable, early-stage fashion e-commerce brand with promising fundamentals: healthy net margin (~28%), meaningful email list, and clear seasonal demand. However, the buyer must not proceed without reconciling critical data inconsistencies (AOV vs orders, customers vs orders) and obtaining transaction/merchant banking proof. If the numbers check out, there is low-risk upside through conversion optimization, email monetization, SEO, and measured paid scaling. The deal structure should include conditions, warranties, and possibly an earn-out to mitigate the young age of the business and information asymmetry.

Immediate Next Steps Checklist (For your M&A team):

• Request the raw CSV exports (orders, customers), bank/merchant statements, and ad account reports.

• Get temporary view access to analytics, ad accounts, and platform admin.

• Run a technical site audit (Lighthouse) and a UX review of product pages.

• Request inventory & supplier docs; confirm whether stock included.

• Legal review: Request VAT filings and contracts.

• If numbers verify, draft conditional LOI with holdback/earn-out provisions.