--- title: "Margin and cost optimization for DTC brands" description: "See contribution margin live by product, channel, and cohort, then rank every cut by what it is worth. Software seats and the AI bill earn their keep or go." canonical: "https://www.pollyester.com/services/cost-optimization" --- [Pollyester](https://www.pollyester.com/index.md) › [Services](https://www.pollyester.com/services.md) › Margin and cost optimization for DTC brands Services we provide Cost optimization Deliver without leaks # Margin shouldn't be a once-a-month number. Most brands work out contribution margin in a spreadsheet, weeks after the fact, and nobody fully trusts it. We build the live version on your own stack, then use it to rank every cut by what it's actually worth. That includes the AI line, which has to earn its keep like everything else. [Get the margin teardown →](https://www.pollyester.com/contact.md) [See all services →](https://www.pollyester.com/services.md) ![Margin shouldn't be a once-a-month number.](https://www.pollyester.com/services/cost-optimization/banner.dark.webp) How it runs today A monthly spreadsheet nobody quite trusts What breaks Nobody owns margin end to end What you get Margin, live, by product, channel, and cohort The shift ## Margin went live. So did the AI bill. The old way Cost cutting used to be a season. Finance negotiated the goods, ops pushed the carriers, growth policed the discounts, and everyone owned a piece of margin while nobody owned the whole thing. The AI-era shift Now margin can be a number you watch, per product, per channel, per cohort, live. And there's a new line on the ledger that deserves the same treatment: the AI spend itself. Plenty of AI pilots never pay back what they cost, so we hold ours to one rule. The AI pays for itself after its own bill, or it goes. The AI pays for itself after its own bill, or it goes. What we actually do ## The work, made concrete. 01 ### The live margin model We start by building contribution margin as a living number on your own stack, by product, channel, and cohort, so every decision that follows has a scoreboard. 02 ### Cost-to-serve audit Then we go through what it costs to get an order out the door: boxes that bill you for the air inside them, packaging heavier than it needs to be, carrier and 3PL rates nobody has tested in years. 03 ### Markdown discipline Discounts get rules tied to sell-through, so markdowns clear inventory that's genuinely stuck instead of giving margin away on things that would have sold anyway. 04 ### The software and AI audit We go tool by tool through the stack, cut the seats nobody logs into, and put a return next to every AI line, so you know what's earning and what's just billing. 05 ### Back-office automation And the quiet grind, support tickets, reconciliation, freight audits, returns triage, gets automated where the math earns it. That's where a lot of the hours are hiding. Proof ## The math that decides it. Margin managed monthly leaks daily. Walk into most brands at real revenue and contribution margin lives in a month-end spreadsheet nobody quite trusts, markdowns run on instinct, and the software bill carries seats nobody has opened in a year. A live margin model on your own stack, rules behind the markdowns, and an honest cull of that stack is where the recovered basis points come from. We baseline yours before we claim any. The first step We build the first read of your contribution margin by product, channel, and cohort, from your own numbers. You leave with a ranked list of what to cut first, and an honest answer on what the AI spend is actually giving back. [Get the margin teardown →](https://www.pollyester.com/contact.md) What we move ## What we watch on margin. Live Contribution margin by product, channel, and cohort, instead of a monthly spreadsheet Earning their keep Markdowns triggered by sell-through, so discounts clear stuck inventory instead of leaking margin Coming down Cost per order read against the baseline, not against a feeling Honest The AI line every tool carries its own return, counted after its own bill Trimmed The software stack seats nobody uses and tools nobody opens, cancelled and counted Benchmarks and targets, not guarantees. We baseline yours first. How we work ## How the engagement runs. 3. 01 ### Diagnose We baseline your numbers and map the operation end to end, so the work targets a real leak, not a hunch. 4. 02 ### Prioritize We rank the opportunities by dollars of impact and effort, and agree on what to do first. 5. 03 ### Build We build the real thing in production (for you, or alongside your team) against a measured baseline. 6. 04 ### Prove We hold the work against a holdout or benchmark, so the lift is proven, not asserted. 7. 05 ### Hand over Documentation, dashboards, and an accountable owner on your team, so the work keeps running without us. ## Where this connects [Deliver without leaks Order orchestration A lot of margin hides in the gaps between systems, and orchestration is how those gaps close. →](https://www.pollyester.com/services/order-orchestration.md) [Deliver without leaks Pick, pack & ship Getting orders out the door is usually the biggest cost you can actually get back. →](https://www.pollyester.com/services/pick-pack-ship.md) [Build the agent-ready core Build the agent-ready core Part of the savings is swapping rented black boxes for a leaner core you own. That's this build. →](https://www.pollyester.com/services/build-the-agent-ready-core.md) ## Find the first cut. We'll build the margin read from your own numbers and hand you the ranked list of what to cut first. From there you'll know what each fix is worth, and in what order to make them. [Book a working session →](https://www.pollyester.com/contact.md) [See how we work →](https://www.pollyester.com/engagement.md) ## Related services - [Order orchestration](https://www.pollyester.com/services/order-orchestration.md) - [Pick, pack & ship](https://www.pollyester.com/services/pick-pack-ship.md) - [Build the agent-ready core](https://www.pollyester.com/services/build-the-agent-ready-core.md) - [All services](https://www.pollyester.com/services.md) --- ## Pollyester — site navigation Primary: [Services](https://www.pollyester.com/services.md) · [Work](https://www.pollyester.com/work.md) · [Partners](https://www.pollyester.com/partners.md) · [About](https://www.pollyester.com/about.md) · [Ideas](https://www.pollyester.com/blog.md) Company: [About](https://www.pollyester.com/about.md) · [Careers](https://www.pollyester.com/careers.md) · [Contact](https://www.pollyester.com/contact.md) · [How a project runs](https://www.pollyester.com/process.md) · [Engagement](https://www.pollyester.com/engagement.md) Services: [Get found](https://www.pollyester.com/services/get-found.md) · [Get chosen](https://www.pollyester.com/services/get-chosen.md) · [Grow the customer](https://www.pollyester.com/services/grow-the-customer.md) · [Earn advocacy](https://www.pollyester.com/services/earn-advocacy.md) · [Pick, pack & ship](https://www.pollyester.com/services/pick-pack-ship.md) · [Order orchestration](https://www.pollyester.com/services/order-orchestration.md) · [Cost optimization](https://www.pollyester.com/services/cost-optimization.md) · [Build the agent-ready core](https://www.pollyester.com/services/build-the-agent-ready-core.md) · [Brand & identity](https://www.pollyester.com/services/brand-identity.md) · [Creative & art direction](https://www.pollyester.com/services/creative-art-direction.md) · [Content & campaigns](https://www.pollyester.com/services/content-campaigns.md) · [Video & media](https://www.pollyester.com/services/video-media.md) · [Storefront & product](https://www.pollyester.com/services/storefront-product.md) · [Experiential & activations](https://www.pollyester.com/services/experiential-activations.md) · [Events & retail](https://www.pollyester.com/services/events-retail.md) · [Design & build](https://www.pollyester.com/services/design-build.md) Legal: [Privacy](https://www.pollyester.com/privacy.md) · [Terms](https://www.pollyester.com/terms.md) Full index: [llms.txt](https://www.pollyester.com/llms.txt) — the markdown map of the site.