Ecom CFO Notebook – Q3 Benchmark Report Preview

Sam here.

Newsletter out before 10:00 AM this week!!!

New quarter, new benchmark report.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what makes these reports actually useful. And I keep coming back to: you care more about the raw data than my commentary.

Knowing what other brands’ contribution margins look like by cohort, how their ROAS is trending, and the actual numbers.

Heading into 2026, we’re doubling down on the data and moving toward more specific, actionable benchmarks…more stuff you can actually use to make decisions.

Less of my take and more of just giving you the numbers that matter.

For this quarter, we’ve maintained the same consistency from previously quarterers – analyzed data from 20 companies, with revenues ranging under-$10M to $50M+.

We pulled the same trends in revenue, gross margin, contribution margin, EBITDA and more. Plus benchmarks on ad spend, ROAS, G&A, and marketing as a percent of revenue.

If there’s specific data you want to see in future reports (e.g., what other brands are paying for Shopify merchant fees, what banks people use and how many accounts they have, average COO salary packages?), reply and let me know.

Now, let’s get into it.

Here are five things that jumped out when I looked at the Q3 data.

1. Revenue growth is steady

Looking at the percentiles, the 95th percentile grew around 35% ±5%.

Back in the glory days, we expected the 95th percentile to be 50% growth, 80% growth, but that’s just not the case anymore.

The best companies are growing at 40% and that is where we are at.

The 50th percentile for the $10-$50M cohort was shrinking 15%. I would have expected that median group to be breakeven at minimum, if not positive. But again that’s just not the case.

The fact that over half those companies are not growing is a reality of the where the ecom world is today.

2. Tariffs are starting to hit the mid-market

The first clear signs of tariff pressure showed up in the $10-$50M cohort this quarter. We’re seeing higher landed costs and declining gross margins – more pressure on contribution margin.

I expected to see the impact in the under $10M and over $50M cohorts as well, but was pleasantly surprised.

I’ll be keeping a close eye on this next quarter as shipping cycles reset and new inventory hits.

3. G&A finally cooled off

For the first time in several quarters, it’s finally improving!

G&A growth slowed to 2%-4%, roughly in line with inflation for the bottom two cohorts. Prior quarters regularly showed 10%-20%+ increases. Brands were hiring, upgrading systems, adding overhead like revenue growth was guaranteed.

Now they’re cutting, freezing, or at adding overhead at a lower rate.

G&A is behaving more like it should.

It’s not down, but the runaway growth trend appears to be ended. That matters for EBITDA recovery heading into 2026 planning.

4. ROAS is down across every cohort and AI isn’t helping (yet)

ROAS is down at least 4% across the board and the middle cohort down 10%.

I’m not cued into all the marketing conversations, but I’m just not hearing any meaningful conversations where there’s been any big breakthrough on AI. While I’m seeing some founders boast about their AEO on LinkedIn, personally I haven’t seen that with our clients.

If you are seeing impactful results in with AI, I’d love to hear about it.

I’m not saying there aren’t outliers, but the directional trend isn’t great.

5. Gross margin is still the great filter

The 95th percentile of brands over $50M sits around 80% gross margin.

Nearly every 8-9 figure brand maintains 70%+, while the lower cohorts still show huge variability in the mid-50s to mid-70s.

Of course there’s some survivorship bias here, but the data supports that >70% gross margins is a precondition to break into the >$10M club

My thoughts heading into 2026

I’ve said this hundreds of times, but it’s still happening so I will keep saying it.

Almost all prospective clients I talk to don’t have a budget. They also don’t understand why having a budget is important.

The excuse is always some version of “things change rapidly.”

But that’s not an excuse for not having a plan.

Without having anything to manage to, that means you’re operating in the dark. Now even if you have a budget, your performance can still be shit. But at least you know how you’re performing against what your plan is.

One of my clients is having a tough year (down 41% year-over-year), but because they have a budget at least they know they’re getting crushed. They can make decisions based on how far off plan they are and identify solutions to recover.

Without a budget, we’re just reacting. There is no baseline and no way to know whether it’s underperformance or market shifts that are causing the results.

Now is the time to get that budget in motion for 2026.

Next week we’ll be releasing the full report so you can dig into the benchmarks and see where you stack up.

As a reminder, if there’s specific data you want to see in future reports (e.g., what other brands are paying for Shopify merchant fees, what banks people use and how many accounts they have, average COO salary packages?), reply and let me know!

— Sam

1. Find me on LinkedIn
2. EcomCFO provides CFO and accounting support for 7-9 figure ecommerce brands – book a brainstorming session with me here