A clear view of your business. A practical plan to improve it.
The £1,500 Ecommerce & Operations Audit connects your website, people, workflows and systems. I investigate where sales, time and money are being lost, then explain the changes that deserve your attention and how to move them forward.
No VAT added. One website, one business. Preparation, on-site investigation, report and findings walkthrough. Travel across Dorset and through to Southampton included.
When more orders mean more pressure, something needs to change
You may be selling more while the team gets busier, support queues grow and another hire starts to look inevitable. People keep the business moving through spreadsheets, repeated checks and knowledge held in their heads. Hosting and integration bills rise while the same problems keep returning.
My job is to understand how that operation fits together. A dispatch delay can begin with payment confirmation. A stock discrepancy can start in an integration. A support backlog can be the consequence of unclear product information or missing tracking. Looking across the business exposes connections that a review of one screen or department can miss.
The audit gives you a clear account of the problems, the opportunities and the practical route forward. It is particularly useful when you know the business could perform better and want an experienced person to work out where the biggest gains are.
The fixed fee covers one website and one business, with online preparation, an on-site review, analysis, a written report and a findings walkthrough. There is no VAT added. Travel within Dorset and through to Southampton is included.
Before booking, we agree your objectives, the people and business areas to involve, available information and the visit date. Payment is made in advance. The report is usually ready within a few days of the visit.
The audit establishes the picture and the improvement priorities. If a large or complex operation needs a further detailed investigation, that work is identified in the report and scoped separately. Implementation is also a separate choice.
From finding your business to fulfilling the order
I adapt the investigation to how your business operates. These are the connected areas I work through, wherever they are relevant to your operation.
Attracting the right customers
How people find you, your organic visibility against competitors, the quality of your content and the clarity of your positioning. I review the marketing activity supporting the website and where valuable demand is being missed.
Turning visits into worthwhile orders
Product discovery, search and navigation, merchandising, product information, delivery choices, trust, basket and checkout. I look for problems that appear on particular devices, missed upsells, average order value opportunities, abandoned-cart recovery and the route to repeat purchases.
Getting orders ready to pick
What happens after an order is placed: payment confirmation, order release, stock allocation, checks and exceptions. I establish whether orders become available when they should, what staff have to confirm manually and where information arrives late or inconsistently.
Picking, packing, stock and dispatch
How orders reach the picking team, whether people use paper or scanners, how picks are checked and how stock is protected. I follow packing, weights, label creation, courier selection, cut-off times and tracking, including the orders that need extra attention.
Customer support and handovers
The issues customers raise, the information staff need and how queries, returns and delivery problems move between people. I look for repeated work, missing ownership and avoidable contacts that consume time across several departments.
Systems, information and recurring costs
How the website, stock, shipping, accounts and reporting exchange information. I examine duplicated entry, spreadsheets, manual exports, performance and uptime concerns, alongside hosting and relevant API or integration expenditure.
Specialist security, backup and recovery, licensing and supplier-contract reviews sit outside the standard audit. They can be scoped separately when needed.
I see the work happening and speak to the people who understand it
I start before the visit by working through what I can see online and reviewing any information you share. At your premises I speak with the owners, department leads, finance staff and the people handling the day-to-day work.
These are practical conversations while people go about their jobs. I want to see an order being picked, understand the checks before it leaves and hear what happens when something goes wrong. That quickly reveals the workarounds, pressures and missing information that are difficult to capture in a formal interview.
Analytics, sales records, process timings and general cost information help establish how often an issue occurs and what it costs. You can share these before, during or after the visit. Where information is incomplete, the report identifies the assumptions and the measurements needed to make a decision.
I bring the observations together into a picture of the business: what connects, where work waits, which teams are overloaded and which changes could remove the pressure at its source.
A late parcel can reveal a much bigger opportunity
Imagine an operation where finance confirms payments manually, the warehouse prints a pick list before every update has arrived and packers enter shipment details again in a courier portal. The visible problem is missed dispatch deadlines. The underlying issue is the way orders become ready and information moves between systems.
The useful recommendation would define the rules for releasing an order, the exceptions that need a person, the information a picker can rely on and the checks before a label prints. It would explain a phased route to implementation, the systems involved and the evidence needed to confirm the improvement.
That is the level of reasoning the audit is designed to provide. The report connects findings across departments so you can fund changes that address the cause and improve several parts of the operation together.
This is an illustrative scenario showing the method and depth of the review. It is not a finding about your business or a published client case.
A report you can use to make decisions and brief the work
You receive a written improvement report, followed by a meeting with me to explain the findings, priorities and options. The report describes how to take recommendations forward, so your team, agency or I can use it as the basis for implementation.
Your Ecommerce & Operations Audit report
What you receive
How it helps
Executive summary
The most significant findings, commercial opportunities and decisions for the owner.
Current-state assessment and process maps
A clear account of the customer journey, workflows, systems and handovers reviewed.
Evidenced findings
What happens, where it happens, the observations or data behind it and its effect on the business.
Recommended approaches
How the improved process or experience should work, with practical next steps.
Opportunity assessment
Estimated benefits, effort, implementation costs, recurring costs and dependencies where the evidence supports them.
Prioritised roadmap
A sensible sequence for early improvements and larger projects, including work needing further investigation.
Measures of success
What to establish before a change and what to check afterwards.
Findings walkthrough
A meeting to explain the report, answer questions and discuss the next steps.
The audit covers investigation and planning. Detailed solution design, implementation and subsequent progress reviews are separately paid work.
Priorities based on your business, with the numbers kept clear
Some improvements release staff time. Others protect margin, remove errors, increase completed orders or reduce a recurring bill. I explain those differences so the business case is useful.
Released capacity becomes a cash saving when it avoids overtime, temporary labour or another hire, or supports an agreed staffing change. Extra sales need to be assessed against product margin and fulfilment costs. Technology savings need to account for the cost of putting the replacement in place.
I identify the assumptions and dependencies behind an estimate, keep overlapping benefits separate and show how to measure the result. You can then choose work based on the likely return and the effort required.
An experienced person to carry the improvements through
You can take the report to your own team or agency, or continue working with me. I can deliver integrations, automation, website improvements, hosting changes and complete operational solutions, including the setup, testing, training and handover they need.
We agree the scope, budget and measures of success before implementation. Work can be hourly at £80, a fixed project or a phased programme. Further investigation and future progress reviews are costed separately.
If you already know what needs doing, you can come straight to me with that brief. An audit is useful when the right solution depends on understanding more of the operation.
Established businesses that sell online, or have a foundation to grow online, and want to improve sales, operations or running costs. There is no fixed size requirement. The important thing is having an operation to investigate and the capacity to act on worthwhile recommendations.
How long is the on-site visit?
We agree the arrangements around the business areas and people involved before booking. The work includes online preparation, observation and conversations on site, then analysis and report writing. The visit is one part of the overall review.
Can you work with limited analytics or records?
Yes. Observation, staff knowledge and the information you do have provide a starting point. I explain where a conclusion needs better evidence and recommend the measurements needed before committing to a larger change.
Does the £1,500 include VAT or travel?
£1,500 is the total audit fee, with no VAT added. Travel within Dorset and through to Southampton is included. Payment is made in advance of the audit.
When will I receive the report?
Usually within a few days of the site visit. We confirm the expected delivery date before booking and arrange the included findings walkthrough.
Does the audit include implementing the recommendations?
The fee covers investigation, the written report and a findings walkthrough. Implementation is separate. Your team or agency can deliver it, or you can agree a project with me.
What if our operation needs a deeper investigation?
The audit identifies priorities and areas where more detailed work is needed. Additional websites, separate businesses and specialist reviews can be scoped separately. Any further investigation or implementation is agreed and priced before it begins.
What an improvement plan looks like
Look at the connections. Find the bigger opportunity.
A useful improvement plan explains how a problem develops across the business, what a better process looks like and how to put it in place. These examples show the depth of investigation and recommendations behind the audit.
Illustrative scenarios, not client findings or promised results. In your audit, the evidence, priorities and estimates come from your operation.
01 / Connect the operation
Resolve dispatch delays at the point where they begin
Orders wait for manual payment confirmation. A printed pick list misses later amendments. Packers re-enter shipping information, and support staff chase parcels whose status has not reached the website. Each department sees a different part of the problem.
Define when an order is ready, who handles exceptions and which version each team should use. Connect release, stock allocation, guided picking, pack checks and label creation, then return shipment status to the website and customer service.
Release the order
Pick current items
Verify and pack
Create the label
Return status
One connected workflowwith clear rules from payment confirmation to customer updates
The opportunity is to remove repeated handling and corrections across finance, the warehouse and support. Measure the whole workflow before estimating capacity or deciding which integration to fund.
See the evidence and implementation steps
Evidence to collect
Payment and release timestamps, observed handovers, amended orders, hands-on time, mis-picks, label corrections and support contacts caused by delays. Sample ordinary orders and exceptions across busy and quieter periods.
Questions that change the solution
Which orders genuinely need review? Can an order change after release? How is stock reserved? What happens to partial orders? What should staff see when a payment or integration update fails?
Implementation sequence
Agree ownership and release rules first. Confirm product and order data, pilot the connection and pack checks, reconcile stock and dispatch records, train the team and expand after the pilot is reliable.
How to assess the result
Compare order-to-release time, hands-on minutes per order, cut-off performance, errors and related support contacts. Distinguish waiting time from staff time, and include new system costs before calculating savings.
Establish the rules, then pilot one workflowOrder data, release and exception rules, picking, packing, shipping integration and staff handover.
Find where customers, baskets and repeat purchases are being lost
Customers reach the store but struggle to find suitable products on mobile. Product information does not resolve buying questions, relevant additions are hard to discover and the recovery journey ends after an abandoned basket. More advertising sends people through the same experience.
Current experience in this example
Unanswered questions and disconnected sales journeys
Recommended direction
Clear choices, relevant additions and useful follow-up
The improvement
Review entry pages, device-specific behaviour, search, product content, merchandising, delivery information and checkout as one journey. Plan relevant upsells and recovery or retention activity around what customers are buying and why they hesitate.
A stronger buying journeyfrom the first relevant visit to the next worthwhile purchase
Prioritise changes using funnel evidence, margin and customer needs. An increase in basket value is useful when it improves contribution and avoids additional returns or support work.
See the evidence and implementation steps
Evidence to collect
Entry sources and pages, device segments, internal searches, product-to-basket and checkout progression, customer questions, purchase mix, margin and repeat orders. Where tracking is weak, establish the necessary events before relying on percentages.
Questions that change the solution
Does the issue affect particular devices, traffic sources or product types? Are customers unable to choose, uncertain about delivery or encountering a broken interaction? Do proposed additions fit the purchase and remain profitable to fulfil?
Implementation sequence
Resolve functional blockers, improve the highest-priority product and journey information, then test merchandising, relevant additions and recovery activity. Connect the measures before introducing several changes together.
How to assess the result
Compare completed orders, contribution, average order value, returns and repeat purchase behaviour by relevant segment. Account for traffic mix, discounts and fulfilment costs when assessing the improvement.
Find the largest evidenced drop-offsAnalytics, customer journeys, content, merchandising, checkout, recovery and repeat purchases.
Replace an expensive workaround with a costed solution
A costly hosting setup still struggles during busy periods. Several paid services move data between systems, yet staff run manual exports and correct failed updates. The recurring bills and internal workload are treated as separate costs.
Current arrangement in this example
Rising bills plus manual reconciliation
Recommended direction
A measured service and a simpler information flow
The improvement
Map the systems, service needs and data movement, then identify the source of performance issues and repeated handling. Compare practical changes to the existing setup with alternatives, including implementation effort, recurring expenditure and operational dependencies.
A decision with the costs visiblecovering technology spend, staff work and the route to change
A lower monthly bill only tells part of the story. Assess the cost of implementation and ongoing operation alongside performance, avoided manual work and the service the business needs.
See the evidence and implementation steps
Evidence to collect
Hosting and relevant service bills, observed performance, peak trading needs, integration logs, export schedules and time spent reconciling data. Map each service to the role it performs in the operation.
Questions that change the solution
Is the constraint infrastructure, application behaviour or a dependency? Which integrations are essential? Where does information fail or arrive late? Does a cheaper option still meet the business’s service needs?
Implementation sequence
Define the required service, remove obvious duplicated handling, compare costed options and investigate uncertain dependencies. Any subsequent migration or integration project receives its own implementation plan and budget.
How to assess the result
Review total recurring cost, representative response times, uptime, failed synchronisations and reconciliation hours. Allow for setup, hardware or software costs and distinguish staff capacity from actual cash savings.
Establish the service requirements and cost baselineHosting, relevant APIs and integrations, performance evidence, data flows and operational effort.
The audit identifies and explains the opportunity. Implementation is separately paid work, delivered by your team, your agency or a project with me. Specialist security, backup and recovery, licensing and contract reviews are separate briefs.
In my previous CTO role, I connected warehouse and administrative workflows with bespoke tools and integrations. The automation released staff capacity, and all three people moved into other roles in the business.
Your online sales, warehouse, customer service and technology all affect the same bottom line. I understand how they work together, uncover what is holding you back and help deliver the changes that make the business stronger.
Start with a free conversation about your business. We can use the £1,500 Ecommerce & Operations Audit to establish the whole picture, or agree a focused project when you already know what needs doing.
Show me how the business works. Let’s find what could work better.
In a free 30–45 minute discovery meeting, we will discuss your operation, explore visible opportunities and work out the most useful next step. On site in Bournemouth, wider Dorset or Southampton, or online.
Free discovery · usually 30–45 minutes · directly with Tom. Audit: £1,500 total, no VAT added.
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