The Margin Balancing Act: Growing eCommerce Revenue Without Sacrificing Profitability

eCommerce continues to surge, yet many brands are discovering that growth alone isn’t enough. Rising costs across the board—from inventory and shipping to advertising and customer acquisition—are making profitability harder to achieve.

This article breaks down the key insights from Logicbroker and Trellis’ joint webinar, “The Margin Balancing Act: How to Grow Online Without Killing Your Profits.” Together, Steve Norris, Vice President of Digital Commerce at Logicbroker, and Ali Babul, Chief Growth Officer at Trellis, shared actionable strategies for protecting margins while scaling your business in competitive marketplaces.

If you’d like to dive deeper, you can watch the full webinar video at the bottom of this page.

The eCommerce Growth Paradox

Global eCommerce sales are rising rapidly, creating new opportunities for brands to capture market share and connect with consumers across more channels than ever before. Yet, as Steve Norris noted during the webinar, the cost of doing business online continues to climb at an even faster pace.

Carrying inventory, fulfilling orders, handling returns, acquiring customers, and competing for visibility on marketplaces all come with mounting expenses. As Ali Babul observed, brands are also contending with a crowded landscape. More sellers are vying for the same shoppers, meaning you’re fighting harder for every conversion while macroeconomic pressures steadily erode profitability.

Control the Controllable: Building Operational Excellence

While brands can’t control broader market forces, they can optimize the elements within their reach. According to Norris, operational efficiency is one of the most powerful levers for protecting profitability.

Returns, for example, remain a major margin killer. NRF reported that 17% of online purchases were returned in 2024, and in categories like apparel, rates can exceed 30%. Reducing returns through better product information, streamlined workflows, and improved inventory accuracy can lead to significant savings.

Automation is another critical factor. Many enterprises still rely on manual processes for updating inventory, reconciling backorders, and managing fulfillment—a costly and error-prone approach. Implementing real-time inventory visibility and automated workflows allows brands to deliver a more reliable customer experience while freeing up internal resources to focus on growth.

Leveraging Technology to Unlock Margin Growth

Technology plays a central role in scaling profitably. Norris highlighted several ways retailers and brands can reclaim margins by deploying smarter tools:

• Dynamic order routing ensures orders are fulfilled from the optimal source, whether that’s a distribution center, retail location, supplier, or marketplace. By reducing shipping distances, brands cut fulfillment costs and improve delivery times.

• Automated vendor onboarding simplifies bringing new suppliers online, reducing the friction and manual labor associated with growing product assortments.

• Expanded assortment management allows businesses to tap into supplier inventory to serve more customer needs without carrying additional stock, improving both flexibility and cash flow.

These strategies turn traditional fulfillment programs, such as dropship or marketplace partnerships, into integral nodes of a brand’s supply chain rather than standalone operations.

Winning with Pricing and Advertising

Profitability doesn’t stop with operational efficiency; it extends to how brands manage pricing and advertising. Babul emphasized the need for an integrated approach, where dynamic pricing strategies work in tandem with smarter ad spend.

When demand spikes or supply tightens, adjusting prices strategically can preserve margins without sacrificing competitiveness. Automated pricing tools make these changes seamless, ensuring that pricing remains optimized across multiple marketplaces.

On the advertising front, leveraging programmatic bidding and demand-side platforms (DSPs) helps brands reach the right audiences more efficiently. Rather than overspending to chase visibility, businesses can target their most valuable customers and nurture them through the buying journey.

Understanding the Customer Journey

Protecting margins requires more than driving new traffic—it also depends on knowing your customer’s journey and increasing lifetime value.

By analyzing customer behavior across touchpoints, brands can identify which products drive repeat purchases, where customers drop off, and how best to encourage loyalty. Babul stressed the importance of focusing on branded search terms and retargeting audiences to capture demand more cost-effectively.

The goal isn’t simply to convert first-time buyers but to encourage those customers to return, increasing their long-term value and reducing the need for expensive acquisition campaigns.

Scaling Strategically Through Marketplaces and Social Selling

Marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart offer powerful growth opportunities, but Babul cautioned that entering them without a strategy can lead to lost profits. Quick wins are possible—such as bidding on branded keywords and leveraging sponsored products to boost organic rankings—but long-term success depends on building a foundation that supports sustainable growth.

Social selling platforms, including TikTok, present another emerging channel. While TikTok’s algorithm allows brands to reach audiences based on content rather than follower count, success requires a cohesive strategy that combines influencer partnerships, localized content, and audience targeting. For brands aiming to reach Gen Z and younger millennials, TikTok can be a valuable addition—but only when executed thoughtfully.

The Power of Partnership: Logicbroker + Trellis

Scaling profitably in today’s complex eCommerce environment requires more than technology—it demands collaboration. Logicbroker’s intelligent commerce network connects retailers, brands, suppliers, and marketplaces to enable seamless trading relationships, while Trellis brings advanced tools for optimizing pricing, advertising, and marketplace performance.

Together, Logicbroker and Trellis help brands unlock new revenue opportunities, manage costs, and deliver exceptional customer experiences. By combining operational efficiency with demand-driving strategies, this partnership provides a framework for sustainable, profitable growth.

Watch the Full Webinar  Below

Growth without profitability is no longer a viable strategy. As Norris and Babul emphasized, brands must focus on controlling what they can—optimizing operations, leveraging technology, and aligning pricing and advertising strategies to protect margins.

In a landscape where competition is fierce and costs are rising, sustainable success depends on smarter processes, better data, and trusted partners who can help you navigate change.

For deeper insights and practical strategies, watch the full webinar video below.