e-commerce Channel Financial Forecast

THE SERVICES

• Financial Forecasting
• Subject matter expertise
• e-commerce retail & finance consulting

THE APPLICATIONS 

• Google Analytics
• Clients Data Source
• Microsoft Excel
• Shopify
• Other 3rd Party apps

THE BUSINESS

Established in 1987, Olga Berg is an iconic Australian Retail and Wholesale brand available globally. Founder, Olga Gartenberg, carved out a niche creating exclusive evening and special occasion bags, clutches and head pieces for women who know their style and like to have fun with their accessories. Kelly Lippman took over from Olga and has been the owner/Creative Director of Olga Berg for over 20 years.

The Objectives

Olga Berg employed the services of it works to help develop a robust and detailed 3 year financial profit and loss forecast for their online business.

The aim of creating the detailed financial forecast was to 1) identify the revenue potential for Olga Berg’s online channel over 3 years at a much lower level of detail than had previously been done 2) to assist with determining the level of investment required to realise that potential and 3) to carve out a tangible plan/roadmap that could be used to drive business activities over the course of 3 years.

Utilising our extensive industry knowledge and insights, our internal SME’s in both e-commerce and financial accounting were able to produce a ‘new and improved view’ for the online channel, allowing Olga Berg to be more confident and assured on their path to achieving their online channel growth aspirations.

The expertise provided by it works:

• e-commerce industry expertise and knowledge by our consultants to provide accurate input into the assumptions that build up the model

• Our internal CFO builds the model from the ground up ensuring the model is robust

• Workshops with the Olga Berg executive to identify the various scenarios and strategic initiatives to be part of the 3 year growth plan

• Workshops with Stakeholders to garner data for input into the model for historical data purposes. This builds the base line.

The Outcome

Our team delivered a comprehensive and detailed 3 year profit and loss plan. The financial forecast model allows for real time updates and the ability to review ‘what if scenarios’ as the external and internal environments change. The delivery included:

• Forecasts for successive years informed by the baseline model

• A multi-worksheet Excel workbook that contains the baseline model with detail to a month on month level of granularity for 36 months

• The model can be developed out for full month on month analysis or to provide aggregated annual figures depending on the audience

• This model can then be readily manipulated to create future forecasts that are inclusive of all additional costs associated with growth

• Full set of documentation outlining assumptions, rules and other workings included in the forecast

• A presentation to the board that accompanies the model with Summary Results, Observations and Recommendations