A Growth Consultancy for Ecommerce Brands
Bold yet resilient growth for £1–5m ecommerce brands.
Most brands at this stage grow by leaning harder on marketing, which makes growth expensive, stressful, and unpredictable. We look across the whole business, from procurement to customer service, find what is really holding growth back, and build a plan your team can run.
The problem
Three choices a growing brand should not have to make.
Revenue or profit
Sales climb while margin thins, because each extra pound of revenue costs more to win than the last.
Speed or stability
Growth arrives in surges, followed by corrections. It looks like progress from outside and feels fragile from within.
Ambition or control
The plan outgrows the team's ability to run it, and the founder ends up holding every thread.
Marketing is treated as the only growth engine.
The team has grown and the ambition is real, but nobody is yet senior enough to join the dots across the business. No single function can carry that weight.
The approach
Six functions, each examined through the same four levers.
Around two-thirds of the value in a business your size sits in marketing, so that is where we go deepest. The other five functions get a focused screen, enough to catch the problem that looks like marketing but isn't.
The four levers
- StrategyGrowth in what, funded how, and protecting what, answered before "how do we grow".
- TalentRoles shaped around what the strategy needs, with honesty about who is in the wrong seat.
- TechnologyRemove the friction quietly costing margin. Add only what earns its keep.
- CultureDay-to-day behaviour that matches what the strategy demands.
Applied across six functions
- Marketing In depthUsually the only lever pulled. More comes from considered optimisation, not brute force.
- Sales ScreenedOften the least examined function, and the one with the most margin ready to capture.
- Customer Service ScreenedWhere you learn why customers really leave, and a cheap way to lift lifetime value.
- Procurement ScreenedSits directly on margin. Better supplier terms fund growth without raising it.
- Product ScreenedWhere price sensitivity and differentiation are settled, long before marketing touches it.
- Leadership ScreenedSets the direction and keeps revenue and profit growing together when it gets noisy.
What clients say
“Through a cross-function approach that focuses on both profitability and revenue, Ashton has given us the confidence to invest more and achieve more ambitious growth.”
Freya NicholsonCo-founder“Ashton has quickly become a partner that we know we can rely on to be proactive and thorough. The results he delivers are outstanding and we trust him implicitly.”
Katherine HeathCreative Strategist“Ashton is a never-ending treasure trove of knowledge and one of the most conscientious, responsive, and efficient consultants I've had the pleasure to work with.”
Liane AbramsFounderHow we work
Start with 90 days. Decide the rest once you know what is wrong.
The Diagnostic has one job: find what is actually holding growth back, prove the biggest findings before you bet on them, and hand you a 12-month roadmap your team can run. We start with your P&L and work back to what will move revenue and profit.
- 0MobiliseWeek 1
We agree what growth means for you, with a real number attached, and set up access.
You'll haveA signed-off growth target and a one-page scope.
- 1BaselineWeeks 2–4
We build the honest commercial picture: where revenue and profit actually come from today.
You'll haveYour unit-economics model and one true number.
- 2Deep-diveWeeks 3–8
We find the real constraints, in depth in marketing and screened across the rest of the business.
You'll haveA ranked list of what is holding growth back.
- 3ValidateWeeks 6–10
We prove or disprove the two or three biggest findings before they reach your roadmap.
You'll haveValidated findings, each with a confidence rating.
- 4SynthesiseWeeks 9–12
We turn it into a sequenced, runnable plan and present it live to your team.
You'll haveYour 12-month roadmap and the full deliverable set.
The phases overlap by design, and there is a 30-minute check-in with your team every week. That way, nothing waits until day 90 to surface.
Diagnostic
£8,000 fixed scope, 90 days
Fixed in scope and price. You keep everything, whether or not you work with us again:
- The 12-month roadmapSequenced into waves and tied to your growth target, each initiative with impact, confidence, effort and owner.
- The evidence packYour unit-economics model and the channel and cohort truth behind the plan.
- The one-pagerWhat is actually holding growth back, sharp enough to keep on the desk.
- 30-day quick winsThree to five things worth doing straight away.
All presented live, with your team in the room.
Book a discovery callAdvisory
From £2,500 per month
An outside lens on execution. We keep every function pulling in the same direction without running it day to day.
Leadership
From £5,000 per month
For systemic hurdles or preparing for a sale. We sit inside the senior team and own the growth agenda directly.
Talk through either option
Who you'll work with
Ashton Lee Hudson
Managing Director & Lead Consultant
Every engagement is led by Ashton personally, not handed to a junior team. He has run the marketing, then the commercial side, then sat on the board answerable for the result.
Insights
Recent thinking
The Most Profitable Black Friday Is Usually a Narrow One
Most brands decide their Black Friday offer by copying competitors and last year’s headline revenue. The better question is what the event adds once pull-forward and the discount itself are paid for.
Read the article- Retail-to-D2C Data Capture: The Short and Long View
For much of the past decade, the relationship between brands and retailers has been shifting.
- Beyond China: Why Supply Chain Resilience Is Central to Your Growth Strategy
For much of the past three decades, China has held a singular position in the global supply chain.
