D2C Marketing Agency That Fixes Your Unit Economics Before Scaling Your Ads

Your ROAS looks great on the dashboard. Your bank account tells a different story.

If that hits close to home, you are not alone. Most D2C brands in India are stuck in the same trap. The ad account says 3x ROAS. The P&L says you barely broke even last month. And nobody on your team, not your media buyer, not your agency, not your finance person, can explain where the money actually went.

That is exactly why we built Aim n Launch the way we did. We are a D2C marketing agency based in Delhi that starts every engagement with one question: what is your real contribution margin after you account for shipping, returns, payment gateway fees, and ad spend?

We call this CM2. And until that number is healthy, scaling your ads is just burning money faster.

Trusted by D2C brands across health, beauty, fashion, and food. Based in Delhi. India-focused.

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Why Most D2C Marketing Fails in India

Let us be honest about what is actually happening in the Indian D2C space right now.

The market is projected to cross $108 billion in 2026. Funding is flowing, new brands launch every week, and Meta Ads make it feel like you can buy growth on demand. But here is what nobody talks about at those D2C community meetups.

Your ROAS is lying to you

A 3x ROAS sounds profitable. But once you subtract COGS, shipping costs (₹80-120 per order), payment gateway fees (2-2.5%), RTO losses (25-30% on COD orders), and packaging, that 3x ROAS often turns into a 0.8x contribution margin. You are literally paying to lose money on every order, and the ad dashboard will never tell you that.

COD is eating your margins alive

Around 60-65% of ecommerce orders in India still happen through Cash on Delivery. And roughly 26% of those COD orders come back as RTOs. Each returned COD order costs you ₹180-240 in forward shipping, reverse logistics, and processing. That is money gone, with zero revenue to show for it. Your agency is optimizing for purchases, but nobody is optimizing for profitable purchases.

You are scaling before the foundation is ready

Most agencies will happily increase your ad budget from ₹5 lakh to ₹15 lakh per month. More spend means more revenue on paper, which means the agency looks good. But if your unit economics are broken at ₹5 lakh, they are still broken at ₹15 lakh. You are just bleeding faster.

Nobody is reconciling the real numbers

Your Shopify dashboard shows one revenue number. Razorpay shows another (after settlements and fees). Shiprocket shows a third (after deducting RTOs and shipping). Your ad platform shows a fourth. Nobody is pulling all four together to calculate your actual profit per order. We do.

Brands we grow.

OUR CLIENTS EXPERIENCE
UNCOMFORTABLE ORGANIC GROWTH

FMCG Hydration Brand: 16 days • ₹9.62L Net sales • 1,606 orders • AOV ₹605 • Returning 22.8% • +382% net vs prior period

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FMCG Snacks Brand (India) — 31 days • ₹11,22,028 total sales • 1,265 orders • AOV ₹887 • +498% sales vs prior • +297% sessions • +319% orders

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334% Revenue Growth in 30 Days • How we scaled a coconut water powder D2C brand past their ₹8L target, hitting ₹10.5L in a single month.

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Fashion Brand (India) — 31 days • ₹42,33,340 tracked revenue (₹31,55,340 Meta + ₹10,78,000 SEO) • 4.98× ROAS on Meta • 2,331 purchases • AOV ₹1,354 • MER 6.69×

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Nutrition & Wellness brand scaled to ₹3.4Cr revenue in 23 days at 4.36 ROAS with a defendable AOV strategy.

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The Scale-Up Journey of a Shark Tank Featured Healthy Snacks Brand. How we took a protein snacking brand from ₹7.8L to ₹30.2L in gross sales in a single month, with a 2.87% conversion rate and 6% AOV lift.

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The CM2 Growth System: How We Actually Grow D2C Brands

We do not start with “which ad platform should we run.” We start with your unit economics. CM2 stands for Contribution Margin 2. It is the money left over after you subtract everything that happens between a customer clicking “Buy Now” and you actually keeping the profit. Here is the waterfall:

Gross Revenue minus COGS (product cost) minus Shipping (forward + return) minus Payment Gateway Fees (Razorpay, PayU, Cashfree) minus RTO Losses (returned COD orders) minus Ad Spend = CM2 (what you actually keep) Most agencies only look at the top line (revenue) and ad spend. We look at the entire waterfall. Because a brand doing ₹50 lakh/month in revenue with a 5% CM2 is less healthy than a brand doing ₹20 lakh/month with a 22% CM2.

How this plays out in practice

The CM2 Audit

Before we touch your ad account, we pull real data from your Shopify store, Shiprocket (or Delhivery, or whoever you ship with), Razorpay or PayU, and your Meta/Google ad accounts. We build your CM2 waterfall from actual numbers, not assumptions. This usually takes 3-5 days. Most founders see their real margins for the first time during this step, and it is almost always lower than they thought.

Fix the Leaks

Based on the audit, we identify where money is disappearing. Common fixes include: – Shifting COD-heavy orders to prepaid through checkout incentives (₹50-75 off for prepaid can shift 15-25% of orders) – Reducing RTO through address verification, pin code risk scoring, and WhatsApp order confirmation – Reworking shipping cost structure (consolidating with a single logistics partner vs. aggregator for better rates) – Adjusting ad targeting to attract customers with higher AOV and lower return rates – Product bundling to increase average order value without increasing shipping cost proportionally

Scale What Works

Only after CM2 is positive and stable do we increase ad spend. And when we scale, we scale with guardrails. We track CM2 weekly, not just ROAS. If CM2 dips below the floor, we pull back spend immediately rather than chasing top-line revenue.

What We Do for D2C Brands

Meta and Google Ads Management

This is where most agencies start and stop. For us, it is one piece of a larger system. We run Meta Ads (Advantage+ Shopping, manual CBO/ABO structures, Cost Cap and Bid Cap bidding) and Google Ads (Performance Max, Standard Shopping, Search) for D2C brands spending ₹5 lakh and above per month on ads.

What makes our media buying different: we optimize toward CM2-positive customers, not just the cheapest purchase. That means creative strategy, audience segmentation, and bidding decisions all tie back to which orders are actually profitable after shipping and returns.

We test 15-20 new creatives per month per brand. Static ads, UGC video ads, carousel formats, Hinglish copy for tier-2 audiences. Creative fatigue is real, and the only fix is volume.

Conversion Rate Optimization

Your website is leaking money. The average Shopify store in India converts at 1.5-2%. Small improvements in product page design, checkout flow, trust signals, and page speed can push that to 2.5-3.5%. On a brand doing ₹30 lakh/month in revenue, that difference is worth ₹15-30 lakh in additional annual revenue with zero extra ad spend.

We focus on the elements that matter most for Indian buyers: delivery timeline visibility above the fold, clear return policy, COD availability display, trust badges, real customer reviews (not imported from AliExpress), and mobile checkout optimization since 80%+ of your traffic is on phones.

Shopify Store Development and Optimization

We build Shopify stores from scratch and optimize existing ones. Our focus is speed (under 3 seconds on mobile), clean product pages designed for conversion, and a checkout experience optimized for the Indian buyer (COD/prepaid toggle, UPI deep links, address autofill).

We do not install 30 apps and hope for the best. Every app adds JavaScript bloat, which kills your page speed, which kills your conversion rate. We keep it lean: only the apps that directly impact revenue.

Creative and UGC Strategy

We write the ad scripts. We design the static ad briefs. We create the content strategy for your brand. We do not shoot the video ourselves (you will need a UGC creator or your in-house team for that), but we provide production-ready scripts with hooks, body, and CTAs written specifically for D2C performance.

Our creative process: analyze top-performing competitor ads in the Meta Ad Library, identify hook patterns that work in your category, write 10-15 script variations per month, brief your design team or creator with specific shot lists and text overlays.

For static ads, we produce briefs in a format your designer can execute immediately: headline, sub-copy, visual direction, CTA, offer framing, and Hinglish variations for Hindi-speaking audiences.

SEO for D2C Brands

Paid ads bring immediate revenue. SEO builds the organic foundation that reduces your CAC over time. We handle technical SEO (site speed, crawlability, schema markup), product and category page optimization, and content strategy targeting problem-aware keywords that your ideal customers are searching for.

For most D2C brands, the real SEO opportunity is in educational content. “How to choose the right protein powder,” “best skincare routine for oily skin in Indian weather,” “how to pick running shoes for flat feet.” These are the searches your customers make before they are ready to buy. Ranking for them means you are the first brand they see.

Retention and Repeat Purchase Strategy

Acquiring a new customer costs 5-7x more than retaining an existing one. We set up email and WhatsApp flows that bring customers back without relying on discounts. Post-purchase thank you sequences, replenishment reminders, cross-sell recommendations based on purchase history, and win-back campaigns for customers who have not ordered in 60-90 days.

We use WhatsApp Business API as a primary retention channel because open rates are 85-90% compared to 15-20% for email in India. Your customers are on WhatsApp all day. Meet them there.

Who We Work With (And Who We Do Not)

This is for you if:

You are an Indian D2C brand doing ₹10 lakh+ per month in revenue
You spend ₹5 lakh+ per month on Meta or Google Ads (or plan to within 60 days)
You sell on your own Shopify or WooCommerce store (not just marketplaces)
You care about real profitability, not just top-line revenue
You are willing to share ad account, Shopify, and shipping data so we can do our job properly

This is not for you if:

You are pre-revenue or pre-product-market-fit (you need a product that sells first, not an agency)
You are looking for the cheapest agency option (we are not the cheapest, and we never will be)
You sell only on Amazon or Flipkart (marketplace marketing is a different game, and we do not play it)
You want someone to “just run ads” without looking at the bigger picture
You are not comfortable sharing real business data (we cannot help you if we cannot see the numbers)

Results From Real D2C Brands

Health and Wellness Brand (Delhi NCR)

Before: ₹18L/month revenue, 2.1x ROAS, CM2 at -3% (yes, negative). COD rate at 72%, RTO at 31%. The brand was losing ₹1.2L/month while thinking they were growing.

What we did: Implemented prepaid incentives (₹60 off for UPI/card payments), added pin code level RTO risk scoring, reworked ad creative to target metro audiences with higher prepaid adoption, restructured campaign from single CBO to category-wise ABO with Cost Cap.

After (90 days): Revenue at ₹24L/month, ROAS at 2.8x, CM2 at 14%. COD rate dropped to 54%, RTO dropped to 19%. The brand became genuinely profitable for the first time in 8 months.

Beauty Brand (Mumbai)

Before: ₹32L/month revenue, spending ₹8L on Meta Ads, ROAS at 3.5x but CM2 at just 6% due to high shipping costs on low-AOV orders.

What we did: Introduced bundle offers to push AOV from ₹650 to ₹1,100, created a “Build Your Own Kit” page that encouraged multi-product purchases, rewrote product page copy to emphasize value of bundles, launched Google Shopping for high-intent searches.

After (120 days): Revenue at ₹41L/month, ROAS steady at 3.2x, but CM2 jumped to 19% because shipping cost per order stayed flat while AOV nearly doubled.

Food and Beverage Brand (Bangalore)

Before: New-ish brand, ₹6L/month revenue, ₹3L ad spend, ROAS at 1.8x, struggling to scale.

What we did: Full CM2 audit revealed that their bestselling SKU had the worst margins due to heavy weight and high shipping cost. We shifted ad spend to lighter, higher-margin SKUs. Built a Shopify landing page specifically for Meta ad traffic (not just sending to the homepage). Wrote 12 UGC scripts for creators.

After (60 days): Revenue at ₹11L/month, ROAS at 2.6x, CM2 at 16%. The brand hit profitability for the first time and started reinvesting profits into inventory.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a D2C marketing agency?

A D2C marketing agency specializes in helping Direct-to-Consumer brands grow their online sales. Unlike general digital marketing agencies that work with every type of business, a D2C agency understands the specific challenges of selling directly to consumers: unit economics, shipping logistics, payment processing, return management, and the full customer journey from ad click to delivery.

How much does a D2C marketing agency charge in India?

Pricing varies widely. Budget agencies charge ₹15-30k/month. Mid-tier agencies charge ₹50-80k/month. Serious performance agencies (like us) start at ₹60-70k/month for core services and ₹80-90k+ for full-service engagements that include ads, CRO, creative, and Shopify optimization. The real question is not what you pay the agency, but what you keep after all costs. A cheap agency that burns your ad budget is the most expensive option.

What is CM2 and why does it matter for D2C brands?

CM2 (Contribution Margin 2) is the profit left after subtracting all variable costs from revenue: COGS, shipping, payment gateway fees, RTO losses, and ad spend. It is the most important number for any D2C brand because it tells you whether each order actually makes money. ROAS ignores shipping, returns, and payment costs. CM2 does not.

How is Aim n Launch different from other D2C agencies?

Three things. First, we start with unit economics, not ad spend. We audit your CM2 before running a single ad. Second, we work exclusively with D2C and ecommerce brands, so we understand Shiprocket, Razorpay, COD dynamics, and Indian buyer behavior. Third, we track CM2 weekly, not just ROAS. If your margins dip, we adjust strategy immediately instead of chasing vanity metrics.

Do you work with brands outside India?

Our core expertise is the Indian D2C market. The COD dynamics, shipping infrastructure, payment systems, and buyer behavior in India are fundamentally different from Western markets. We are best suited for brands selling to Indian consumers, whether the company is based in India or abroad.

What ad spend do I need before hiring a D2C agency?

We recommend a minimum of ₹5 lakh/month in ad spend. Below that, the math does not work for either party. You need enough volume to generate meaningful data for optimization, and you need enough headroom to test creatives, audiences, and offers. If you are not there yet, focus on getting your product-market fit right first.

How long before I see results?

Month 1 is audit and setup. You will see your real CM2 numbers and a clear action plan. Months 2-3, we implement fixes and start running optimized campaigns. Most brands see measurable improvement in CM2 by the end of month 2. Significant revenue growth typically shows up in months 3-4. We are not an overnight fix. We are a compounding growth engine.

Do you handle Shopify development too?

Yes. We build new Shopify stores and optimize existing ones. Most of our clients come to us with a live store that needs speed optimization, product page redesign, checkout flow improvement, or mobile UX fixes. We do not just install a premium theme and call it done. We build for conversion.

What industries do you specialize in?

Health and wellness, beauty and skincare, food and beverage, fashion and apparel, fitness and supplements, home and lifestyle. These are the categories where we have the deepest experience and the strongest results. If you are in one of these spaces, we probably know your competitors’ ad strategies better than they do.

Can you help with Amazon or Flipkart too?

Our focus is on your own website and direct-to-consumer channel. Marketplace marketing (Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra) is a completely different playbook with different economics. We do not do marketplace management, and we are upfront about that. If you need marketplace help, we can refer you to specialists we trust.

Ready to See Your Real Numbers?

Most D2C founders have never seen their true CM2. They know their revenue. They know their ad spend. But the gap between those two numbers, where shipping, returns, and fees eat into your margin, is a blind spot. We will pull data from your Shopify store, shipping partner, payment gateway, and ad accounts. We will build your CM2 waterfall. And we will show you exactly where money is disappearing and what to do about it.

No pitch deck. No generic proposal. Just your real numbers on a screen, with a clear plan to fix what is broken.