Why FMCG finance is its own discipline
A D2C brand sells to its customer at a known price, pays a known set of costs, and can rebuild contribution margin from raw data in a weekend. An FMCG brand sells to a retailer at a recommended retail price, gives back roughly 30 to 45 percent in retailer margin, pays an annual listing fee, funds promotional periods at deeper discounts, absorbs slotting and end-of-aisle allowances, and only sees the truth after the retailer has reconciled the period. The gap between gross sales and net sales is where most FMCG brands either make or lose their entire margin.
A fractional CFO for an FMCG brand is principally there to make that gap legible. To rebuild the deduction lines, price the promotional calendar before the buyer asks for it, model the cash impact of a new listing, and run the MOQ-driven cash cycle so the founder is never surprised by a working capital crunch.
What is in scope
- Trade promotion ROI modelling. Every promo priced before it is committed: lift required to break even, cannibalisation, base rate post-promo.
- Listing-fee amortisation. Annual or one-off listing fees spread against forecast volume, with break-even units to justify the listing.
- Retailer P&L rebuild. Gross sales to net sales to gross margin to contribution margin, by SKU, by retailer, by promotional state.
- MOQ cash modelling. Supplier MOQ, lead time, payment terms, and retailer payment terms all in one cash model the founder can edit.
- Distributor and broker margins. Modelled where you sell through a distributor, with a clear view of net margin per unit at point of consumption.
- Post-Brexit export economics. Duty, IOSS, and the unit-economics impact of EU sales on a UK-domiciled brand.
- Monthly board pack. Written for an FMCG founder, not for a SaaS investor.
The retailer P&L most founders never see
The numbers a brand books in Xero look nothing like the numbers the retailer is running. A retailer's P&L on your line includes a list price, a wholesale price, a margin, an on-invoice discount, an off-invoice (retro) discount, a promotional allowance, a slotting allowance, a marketing co-funding amount, and a returns provision. Each one is a negotiation. If you do not know what the retailer is making, you have no leverage on price, no view on whether a promotion is profitable, and no defence when the buyer pushes for a deeper discount.
Oro rebuilds this from your own data, your invoices, the retailer's sales-out reports, and benchmarked margin ranges by category. The founder leaves the first month with a buyer-grade view of their own brand.
Cadence and price
Retainers run from £4,500 to £8,500 per month for ongoing fractional CFO work in FMCG. The driver is supplier and retailer negotiation intensity, listing-fee modelling cycles, and the MOQ cash cadence. A new listing or a tender cycle pushes engagement to weekly; the rest of the year is monthly.