Case Study

Understanding Inventory, Cash Conversions, and SKU Profitability

This startup retail business, focused on kitchen and cooking supplies, was founded out of a love for food, but like many passionate founders, accounting and inventory management weren’t top priorities. That changed when they partnered with GrowthLab to gain control of their financial operations and understand where they were truly making (and losing) money.

Challenge

Manual Accounting, No Inventory Insights, and Zero Cash Flow Visibility

Industry

Retail

Services

• Bookkeeping
• Inventory Systems
• Cash Flow Guidance

Passion-Driven Retail Without Financial Infrastructure

The founder, still writing physical checks to vendors, lacked clear inventory tracking and accounting alignment. Without a reliable system connecting sales, inventory, and financials, the business had no visibility into SKU-level profitability or cash needs—a dangerous blind spot for any retail operation.

Inventory & Accounting Built for Real-Time Retail

GrowthLab migrated the company to QuickBooks Online, integrated the system with their POS for seamless inventory and sales tracking, and implemented virtual bookkeeping workflows.



We established monthly financial review meetings—not just to deliver reports, but to ensure the team understood their numbers and could act on them. These check-ins became a core part of improving financial literacy and business decision-making.

Visibility, Virtual Systems, and Financial Confidence

The company transitioned to a fully virtual financial system—a major advantage during COVID disruptions. Inventory tracking is now systematized, enabling smarter restocking, margin analysis, and cash flow planning.

With a better understanding of SKU-level performance and profitability, the founder can focus on growing the business—with financial data to back every decision.

Advice for Other Business Leaders

Loving your product doesn’t mean you have to love the back office.

But if you want to scale, you need:

• Real-time inventory tracking
• Consistent, accurate bookkeeping
• A cash flow system that informs every move
  

Final Thoughts

GrowthLab’s work with this retail founder proves that even small teams can run like big businesses—with the right systems, a financial partner, and a clear view into what drives profitability