Digital Ecommerce interview prep.

The seat lives at the intersection of (a) unit economics that pencil (CAC, LTV, contribution margin, payback), (b) paid acquisition + creative volume in a post-ATT world where attribution broke, (c) onsite conversion + merchandising + checkout craft (the funnel the operator owns end-to-end), and...

What interviewers look for

  • Can the candidate read a cohort + speak unit economics fluently. CAC, MER, contribution margin, payback, not just headline ROAS?
  • Do they treat attribution as broken post-ATT and reason in MMM / incrementality / blended-MER terms rather than last-click platform-reported ROAS?
  • Can they diagnose the funnel end-to-end, paid → landing → PDP → cart → checkout, and identify the leakiest stage with data?
  • Do they think of retention + lifecycle + subscription as the only durable defence against rising CAC, not a nice-to-have?
  • Can they make a real merchandising + AOV decision, bundle vs single-SKU, free-shipping threshold, pricing test, under contribution-margin constraint?
  • Do they have creative + paid-iteration craft, creative volume, hook + script discipline, the relationship with the creative + production engine?
  • Are they comfortable with the operating cadence, daily MER + cohort review, weekly cohort + creative read, monthly contribution-margin close, not quarterly brand calendar?

Behavioural questions to expect

  1. Walk me through your CV.

    What it tests: Story arc and genuine fit for the DTC operator seat. Interviewers want evidence the candidate has owned a funnel end-to-end, can speak CAC / payback / contribution margin, and has shipped under unit-economic constraint, not just run brand campaigns.

  2. Tell me about a project where you owned a measurable e-commerce outcome. CVR, AOV, CAC, repeat rate.

    What it tests: Depth of operator ownership. Tests whether the candidate frames problem → diagnosis → intervention → measurable outcome, not 'we launched a campaign'.

  3. Tell me about a weakness, a failure, or feedback you have worked on.

    What it tests: Self-awareness + operator discipline. Cross-role canonical. Fake weaknesses downgrade. DTC mistakes carry real CAC + contribution-margin cost, interviewers want a real one.

  4. Why DTC / digital ecommerce, versus brand marketing, platform PM, or retail buying?

    What it tests: Authentic interest in the DTC operator craft, direct user relationship, owned data, unit economics that pencil, end-to-end funnel ownership, fast iteration. Tests whether the candidate WANTS this rather than CPG brand ladder or platform PM scale.

  5. Why this category, apparel vs beauty vs consumables vs home?

    What it tests: Specificity + grasp of how DTC categories differ in unit economics. Apparel has return rates + size complexity; beauty has trial dynamics + SKU proliferation; consumables / supplements have replenishment + subscription; home has high AOV + low frequency. Tests whether the candidate has a reasoned preference.

  6. Why this firm?

    What it tests: Whether the candidate has done the homework. Bar: firm-specific evidence from the product, site, creative, recent moves, leadership, not generic 'great brand'.

  7. Walk me through this firm's product, funnel, and unit economics in your own words.

    What it tests: Whether the candidate has actually shopped the site, joined the email list, looked at the ads. Tests funnel + unit-economic literacy applied to the actual firm, not slide-deck brand summary.

  8. How does the digital-ecommerce function actually drive value at a DTC brand?

    What it tests: Whether the candidate understands DTC operator economics: the funnel they own pulls every unit-economic lever. CAC down, CVR up, AOV up, repeat rate up. Each compounds into payback shorter, contribution margin higher, runway longer.

Technical concepts to master

Unit economics + cohort discipline

CAC + blended CAC
Customer acquisition cost = total acquisition spend / new customers acquired; blended CAC includes ALL spend (paid + creative production + influencer + agency), not just platform-attributed.
Contribution margin after marketing
Gross margin minus shipping + fulfilment + payment fees + returns + marketing cost per order, the dollars per order that fund the business.
Payback period + LTV/CAC
Payback = CAC / monthly contribution margin per customer. LTV/CAC = lifetime contribution margin / acquisition cost, the long-run yardstick.
Cohort retention curve
Plot the % of a sign-up / first-purchase cohort still active or repeat-buying by month; the shape (flat tail vs zero) is the PMF + LTV signal.

Paid acquisition + creative engine + MMM

Blended MER vs platform ROAS
Blended MER = total revenue / total ad spend; platform ROAS = revenue attributed by the ad platform / spend on that platform.
Creative volume as the binding constraint
Modern paid social demands 50-100+ new creative assets / month at scale; creative fatigue (CTR + thumb-stop declining) is the dominant CAC-drift cause.
Incrementality testing + geo holdouts
Pause spend in a matched geo / audience holdout; the gap in revenue between holdout + spend regions = incremental contribution.
MMM (Media Mix Modeling)
Statistical model fitting historical revenue against channel spend (+ seasonality + promo + creative + competitor pressure) to estimate true contribution per channel.

Onsite CRO + merchandising + AOV

CVR by step (landing → PDP → ATC → checkout → purchase)
Decompose overall CVR into the conversion at each funnel step; the biggest absolute drop is the biggest opportunity.
PDP (product detail page) anatomy
Above-the-fold imagery + price + variant selector + ATC; below: details, reviews, size / fit guide, FAQ, cross-sell.
Checkout flow + express pay + guest checkout
Express pay (wallet-native one-tap checkout from the major mobile platforms + the dominant commerce-platform wallet) on cart + checkout + guest checkout + minimal fields is the modern baseline.
AOV mechanics, bundles, free-shipping threshold, gift-with-purchase
Bundle pricing + tiered free-shipping threshold (set 15-25% above current AOV) + GWP raise basket size without straight discount.

Retention + lifecycle + subscription

Lifecycle flow stack
Welcome → browse-abandon → cart-abandon → post-purchase → review-request → replenishment / cross-sell → win-back at 60 / 90 / 180 days.
Subscription mechanics + churn
Subscribe-and-save for consumables / replenishment; monthly cohort retention curve is the operating dashboard; churn management is the craft.
Loyalty + referral programmes
Points / tier programmes + referral incentives (give X get Y) that compound repeat + word-of-mouth.
Win-back + reactivation
Targeted flows + paid retargeting + offer-laddered campaigns for cohorts lapsed at 60 / 90 / 180 days; tested against pure-decay baseline.

Practical drills

  • this firm reports: last quarter blended CAC was $48, AOV $72, gross margin 55%, fulfilment + payments $9 / order, ad spend $1.2M / month. This quarter: blended CAC $60, AOV $70, gross margin 53%, fulfilment + payments $9.50, ad spend $1.5M / month. Walk through the diagnosis + the first three moves.
  • Site CVR has flatlined at 2.1% for two quarters; mobile is 1.6%, desktop 3.4%. AOV is $75. Walk through a 90-day plan to push CVR to 2.8% without sacrificing AOV or contribution margin.
  • this firm's 12-month repeat purchase rate is 22% and we want to get it to 35% in 12 months. Category is consumables-adjacent (replenishment exists but is not subscription-default). Walk through your plan + the year-1 forecast.

Smart-question anchors

  • Unit economics + cohort posture, disclosed payback, contribution-margin trajectory, growth-vs-profit positioning
  • Paid mix + creative engine, channel split, creative volume, in-house studio vs agency, MMM / incrementality maturity
  • Onsite + funnel ownership, who owns the site, A/B cadence, merchandising + CRO team shape
  • Retention + lifecycle + subscription, flow stack, subscription product if any, owned-channel revenue share
  • Tech stack + data, commerce platform, attribution / MMM tooling, first-party + zero-party data programme

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