Briefing · Q2 2026 · Confidential
In one sentence
The trade program is the highest-leverage growth surface for the next two quarters — we recommend doubling investment there before chasing the next paid acquisition channel.
Where we are
1
Trade revenue grew 38% YoY against 11% retail growth.Designer customers now represent 31% of revenue from 14% of sessions. Their AOV is 4.2× retail and their re-purchase rate is 67% within 90 days. Margins are higher even after the trade discount.
2
The trade program is operationally underbuilt.Designers land on the same retail experience. There is no dedicated CRM or outreach motion. Today's three-person trade team is responding to inbound rather than driving outbound.
3
Retail acquisition costs continue to climb.Paid acquisition CAC is up 22% over the trailing twelve months while LTV is roughly flat. The marginal dollar of paid spend is moving toward parity with contribution margin.
4
Inventory is the bottleneck on the upside.Top-100 SKUs by margin spent a combined 42 days out of stock last month. The Beckham sectional alone has cost an estimated $180K in lost revenue from stockouts in the last quarter.
Q2 Revenue
$4.6M
↑ 14% vs Q1
Trade contribution
31%
↑ 6 pts YoY
Paid CAC
$92
↑ $18 trailing 12mo
Recommendation
Build the trade program into a real channel before adding a fourth paid acquisition surface.
Concretely: hire two trade account managers, ship a designer-specific landing experience, formalize the ambassador program with the top fifteen designers already advocating organically, and build the trade CRM Pitashi has scoped. Total Q3 investment of roughly $340K should produce $1.6M–$2.1M of incremental annualized revenue at higher margin than retail.
Next 30 days
01
Open two trade hiresAccount manager (full-time) and ops coordinator (contract). Both should report to head of sales, not retail marketing.
02
Ship the designer landing experienceSingle page that gates the trade application, shows trade-only inventory, and surfaces relationship manager contact info. Three-week build.
03
Pause one paid social channelAudit Meta retargeting performance. If incremental contribution is under 6%, redirect that monthly spend into the trade build.
04
Lock the always-in-stock 100Review the top 100 SKUs by margin with the buying team. Establish minimum-stock floors and reorder triggers before the holiday window.