You've closed on your ecommerce acquisition. Now it's time to take over operations.
The first 100 days are an important period for any new owner. The decisions you make early on can set the business up for long-term growth, but making too many changes too quickly can disrupt operations that were working well before the acquisition.
Here's how we recommend approaching your first 100 days.
Days 1–14: Focus on Stability
It's tempting to start making improvements as soon as you take ownership. For the first two weeks, however, your priority should be understanding the business and keeping operations running smoothly.
Leave the advertising accounts alone. If the existing campaigns are performing well, there's no reason to make immediate changes. Adjusting campaign structures, budgets, or creative can trigger algorithm resets that take weeks to recover from. Use this time to observe performance and document what's working.
Meet with every team member. Whether the business has a full team or just a couple of virtual assistants and a third-party logistics (3PL) contact, take the time to introduce yourself. Confirm employment terms and ask about any ongoing issues the previous owner may not have addressed. These conversations can give you valuable insight into how the business actually operates.
Review account access and credentials. Make sure you have administrator access to every platform the business uses, including Amazon Seller Central, Shopify, advertising accounts, email marketing platforms, social media, bank accounts, and the 3PL portal. Verify that the previous owner's access has been removed where appropriate.
Contact your top three suppliers. Introduce yourself, confirm existing payment terms and outstanding orders, and ask about any upcoming price increases or changes in lead times. Even when supplier relationships transfer with the business, maintaining those relationships requires communication and trust.
Days 15–45: Get Familiar with the Numbers and Operations
Once the business is running smoothly under your ownership, take a closer look at what's driving its performance.
Build a unit economics model. Review the financial performance of each major SKU or product group. Include landed costs, Amazon or Shopify fees, return rates, advertising costs per unit, and contribution margins. This will help you identify which products generate the most profit and which may be losing money.
Review your inventory. Determine how many weeks of inventory you have available for each SKU, which products have been sitting too long, and whether there are outstanding shipments ordered by the seller. Before making new purchasing decisions, you need a clear understanding of how much working capital is tied up in inventory.
Audit your software and subscriptions. Make a list of every software platform, subscription, and integration the business uses. It's common to find that 20–30% of subscriptions are either unused or serve overlapping purposes. Cancel services that aren't providing value or supporting an active business function.
Check your Amazon listings. Review each listing for missing information, content issues, or anything that could lead to suppression. Address potential problems before investing more heavily in advertising or traffic.
Days 46–75: Improve Processes and Review Costs
By this point, you should have a better understanding of the business's daily operations and where there may be opportunities to improve efficiency.
Renegotiate supplier terms. New ownership can provide an opportunity to revisit existing supplier agreements. Depending on the relationship, offering faster payments, larger orders, or a longer-term commitment may help you negotiate better pricing. Even a 2–3% reduction in cost of goods sold (COGS) can have a meaningful impact on profitability.
Document your processes. If the previous owner handled important day-to-day responsibilities, some of that operational knowledge may have left with them. Work with your team to document recurring tasks, including purchase orders, customer service procedures, inventory reorder points, and other essential functions. Having clear processes in place also makes it easier to train future employees.
Create a 13-week cash flow forecast. Map out your expected income and expenses over the next 13 weeks. Include inventory purchases, payroll, software subscriptions, loan payments, and other known obligations. This will help you identify potential working capital shortages before they become a problem.
Days 76–100: Start Making Targeted Improvements
After spending the first few months learning the business, you should have enough information to begin testing changes.
Test one advertising adjustment. Rather than restructuring your entire advertising account, choose a single campaign and test one variable. Monitor the results so you can better understand how the account responds before making larger changes.
Focus on one growth opportunity. This might be launching a new product, expanding into another sales channel, or improving email marketing. Choose one initiative to develop and test before taking on additional projects. Making too many changes at once makes it difficult to determine what's actually producing results.
Review your loan covenants. If you used SBA financing or another institutional loan, make sure you understand your financial reporting obligations and any covenant thresholds. Set calendar reminders for quarterly reporting deadlines so nothing gets overlooked.
What to Avoid During Your First 100 Days
Some changes are better left until you've had more time to understand the business. During your first 100 days, avoid:
- Launching an entirely new product line
- Rebuilding the website
- Replacing the existing team
- Changing the brand identity
- Switching to a new 3PL provider
Any of these changes may make sense eventually, but making them before you fully understand the business can create unnecessary risk.
Your first 100 days should be about maintaining stability, learning how the business operates, and identifying opportunities based on actual performance. Once you understand what's working and where improvements are needed, you'll be in a much better position to make decisions that support long-term growth.