Hey Reader,

You're reading Behind the Curtain: what 7- and 8-figure owners are learning inside eComFuel, and my thoughts on building a rich life alongside your business.

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I've been pretty down on Amazon. More members than ever are second-guessing it.

But is that just vibes? Or is real data behind the AMZ hate?

I was curious when our friends at Finaloop (automated bookkeeping for eCom stores) released real P&L data comparing Shopify-only, Amazon-only, and brands selling on both.

The numbers made me rethink a few things.

Is Amazon or Shopify More Profitable?

Finaloop focused their analysis on contribution margin: what's left from each sale after product costs, fees, fulfillment, and ad spend, before overhead like salaries and rent.

Here's what stood out to me most:

On its own, Amazon is the weakest model. As a second channel alongside Shopify, it's fantastic.

Amazon-only brands earn about 19% contribution margin, the thinnest of the three groups. Shopify-only brands earn 29%.

But brands selling on both are typically 3.3x bigger, with almost the same contribution margin (27% vs. 29%).

Amazon as a second channel opens the door to scale without meaningful margin compression.

And it didn't eat Shopify. For brands on both, Amazon sales grew 28% year over year while Shopify grew 10%.

(Data is medians from H1 2026 booked P&Ls of Finaloop brands doing $1M to $100M a year.)

Is Amazon a Good Fit for YOU?

Lioran, Finaloop's founder, has a good framework here:

🟢 Great fit: $35+ per unit, product costs around 25% or less, standard-size items, and demand you've already built.

Selling low-ticket, bulky, or thin-margin products? Bundle, fix your COGS, and build demand first, since FBA alone can eat ~30% of a $15 sale.

🔴 Not yet: Still finding product-market fit, or counting on Amazon Ads to create demand you haven't built?

Amazon captures demand but doesn't create profitable demand, so win on Shopify first.

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I'm automating my own bookkeeping this year, and it's kind of crazy to still be paying someone to do this by hand as we head into 2027.

Finaloop is the best at this for eCom brands.

Automate Your Books with Finaloop

Behind Finaloop are Lioran and Rayla, longtime trusted friends of the ECF community.

They also launched Margins last month, a very cool tool that shows each sales channel's P&L down to contribution margin (the same view behind the data above).

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🔥 ECF Member Product - ChessUp

My wife recently got into chess and I picked up a ChessUp board for her birthday, made by eComFuel member Jeff Wigh.
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It's been incredible. We're playing 3x the number of chess games and we're all improving.

The product combines a physical board with light-up squares to mentor you, even out games between players of different levels, and more.
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If you're into chess or want to learn, check it out!​

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