Industries · Retail, E-commerce & Consumer Brands

Accountants who understand margin, stock and selling across channels.

A consumer brand today sells through its own store, online, into retailers and across marketplaces, each with its own margin and its own rules. The business turns on knowing the true margin after every cost, funding the stock that sales depend on, and getting GST right across channels. We work with established retailers, e-commerce and consumer brands, on the margin, cash flow and structuring decisions that turn strong revenue into real profit.

Talk to us→How we work→

In short

Prime Partners advises established retailers, e-commerce and consumer brands on the financial decisions that come with selling product across channels. That covers true margin after platform fees, freight and returns, the cash tied up in inventory, GST across online and cross-border sales, structure as the brand grows, and succession or sale. We bring the technical depth of a specialist practice and the accessibility of a team that knows your business by name.

We work with online and direct-to-consumer brands, fashion and apparel labels, food and beverage brands, health and beauty businesses, homewares and lifestyle retailers, and multi-store and franchise retail operators.

The pressures you carry What we do How we work Moments that matter Common questions

The pressures you carry

The financial questions that sit underneath every consumer brand.

A retail or consumer brand business earns its margin on product, with cash committed to stock long before it sells and fees eating into every sale. The decisions that matter most are about margin, cash and the channels you sell through. These are the recurring pressures we help these businesses hold.

True margin after every cost

Platform fees, payment charges, freight, packaging, advertising and returns all sit between the headline price and the profit. The real margin is often thinner than it looks, and it differs by channel, which is why it has to be measured properly.

Cash tied up in stock

Inventory is the largest demand on cash for most brands, bought and paid for ahead of selling. Funding stock through peak periods, and knowing which lines turn, is the difference between growth and a cash squeeze.

GST across channels and borders

Selling online, through marketplaces and overseas brings GST treatments that differ by channel and customer location. Getting it right keeps you compliant and stops you paying GST you did not owe.

Selling across many channels

Your own store, wholesale, marketplaces and physical retail each carry different margins, payment terms and economics. Seeing the whole picture, rather than each channel alone, is where the real decisions are made.

Structure and the eventual sale

A growing brand with real value benefits from a structure that protects it and prepares it for an eventual sale or investment. Both reward being set up well before the moment they matter.

What we do

The same journey we take every client on, told for a consumer brand.

Most brands come to us for one thing and stay for the rest. The work tends to follow a natural order, from getting the margin and foundations right through to planning an eventual sale or handover. Each step below is a service in its own right, and each one links through to the full detail.

Accounting clean-up→

Where the books, the stock records or the channel data have fallen behind fast growth, we bring them back to a standard you can rely on, so the numbers tell the truth on margin before any decision is made on them.

Business accounting and tax→

Year-end accounts, tax and GST across channels, prepared with the way a consumer brand earns its margin properly understood. The foundation everything else sits on.

External finance team→

The reporting a brand actually needs, including margin by channel and after all costs, stock turn, and the cash flow forecast through peak season, run by a team alongside the business rather than a once-a-year file.

Business structure review→

A growing brand with real value needs the right structure to protect it and prepare it for investment or sale. We review whether yours still fits the scale and the channels you now sell through.

Business growth→

The decisions that come with scaling a brand, from funding inventory and entering new channels to managing the working capital that growth demands, so expansion strengthens the business rather than straining its cash.

Business succession→

Planning the exit, whether a trade sale, investment or handover, handled so the brand you have built is sale-ready and the value is realised and the tax managed when the time comes.

Private client advisory and SMSF→

The personal side of building a brand, including your individual tax position, investment structures, self managed super and the planning that comes with a successful sale.

R&D tax incentive→

A specialised area in its own right. Where your business develops genuinely new products, materials or technology behind the brand, we assess eligibility and prepare the claim properly.

How we work

A senior-led relationship, not a once-a-year file.

Every engagement is led by a senior practitioner who knows the business and stays close to it. The way we work follows the same shape, whatever the brand.

Understand the business

We start with what you sell and where, how each channel performs, where the cash sits in stock, and what you are trying to build over the next few years.

Get the foundations right

Compliance, reporting, GST across channels and true margin after all costs brought to a standard you can rely on, so the routine work stops being a source of friction and the margin is clear.

Advise on the decisions that count

Pricing, channel mix, inventory funding and structure addressed as they arise, with the analysis to support a real decision rather than a hunch.

Stay alongside the business

A continuing relationship where you can pick up the phone before you commit to a big stock order or enter a new channel, rather than explain it after the fact.

Plan the exit

When the time comes for a sale, investment or handover, we plan it well ahead, getting the brand sale-ready and managing the tax, so the value you have built is realised on your terms.

Moments that matter

The decisions that shape a consumer brand deserve more than a once-a-year accountant.

Discovering the true margin once every cost is counted and pricing the range properly. Funding the stock that a breakout season demands. Entering wholesale or a new market and getting the economics right. Selling the brand you built and realising the value well. These are the moments where good advice is worth far more than the work that surrounds it, and they are the moments Prime Partners exists for.

Common questions

Questions retail and consumer brands ask us.

What does an accountant for a retail or e-commerce business do?

An accountant for a retail, e-commerce or consumer brand business handles the financial work that comes with selling product across several channels and funding the stock to do it. That means understanding true margin once platform fees, freight and returns are counted, managing the cash tied up in inventory, getting GST right across online and cross-border sales, and handling the tax, structure and succession of the business. At Prime Partners we cover the routine accounting as a matter of course and focus the relationship on the margin, cash flow and structuring decisions that decide whether a brand makes money.

How is margin worked out for an online retail business?

True margin for an online retail business is what is left after the full cost of selling is counted, including the product cost, platform and payment fees, freight, packaging, advertising and returns. The headline gross margin can look healthy while the real margin after these costs is thin, and it often differs between channels. We build reporting that shows margin by channel and after all costs, so you know which products and which channels actually make money.

How does GST work for online and overseas sales?

GST generally applies to sales to Australian customers, while exports to overseas customers are usually GST-free, and sales through marketplaces can carry their own GST rules. For a business selling online and across borders, the treatment depends on where the customer is, how the sale is made and which platform is used. Getting it right keeps you compliant and avoids paying GST you did not need to, and we set up the systems so it is handled correctly as you sell across channels.

How can a retail business manage cash tied up in stock?

Inventory is the largest demand on cash for most retail and consumer brand businesses, with stock bought and paid for well ahead of being sold. Managing it comes from understanding which lines sell through and which sit, timing purchasing to demand and seasonality, and forecasting the cash needed to fund stock ahead of peak periods. We build the reporting and cash flow forecasting that keep stock from quietly draining the business.

Do you work with consumer brands that sell across wholesale and retail?

Yes, we work with consumer brands selling across their own online store, wholesale into retailers, marketplaces and physical stores. Each channel has its own margin, payment terms and GST treatment, and the value of the business lies in understanding the whole picture. We help brands see margin and cash across every channel and manage the structure and tax that comes with selling in more than one place.

Where is Prime Partners located?

Prime Partners has offices in North Sydney and Orange, NSW. We work with retailers, e-commerce and consumer brand businesses across both metropolitan and regional New South Wales, and nationally where the relationship calls for it.

Talk to us

Start a conversation about your brand.

If you are rethinking your pricing, funding a season’s stock, entering a new channel, or planning an eventual sale, we would be glad to talk it through.

Get in touch→

Retail & E-commerce Accountants