# Commercial Discipline

> The third ecommerce readiness foundation. Acquisition and retention in proportion, discounting as strategy, cash flow owned commercially, returns run as a lever; five checks that catch commercial misallocation.

Source: https://barkingcat.ai/the-cats-whiskers/commercial-discipline/

## The Cat’s Whiskers · Foundation 03 of 7

Money in the right places, for the right reasons.

## Is the spend already made in proportion?

Commercial Discipline is the third foundation. It asks whether money is going to the right places for the right reasons: acquisition and retention held in proportion, discounting used as a strategy and never as a reflex, cash flow owned by someone commercial, and returns run as a lever. The failure cluster is Commercial Misallocation.

## The five checks
- **Are acquisition and retention in proportion?**
- **Is discounting a strategy, never a default?**
- **Is cash flow owned commercially?**
- **Do exchanges protect margin where free returns erode it?**
- **Are returns run as a commercial lever, not a service afterthought?**

## The three readiness ratings

### Foundation Ready

Strong foundations. External investment in platforms, acquisition and channel expansion is likely to generate returns, and the focus shifts to optimisation and scale.

### At Risk

Meaningful gaps in one or more foundations. Continued investment generates diminishing returns until they are addressed, so a prioritised fix programme comes before scaling.

### Foundations First

Critical gaps across multiple foundations, with external spend destroying value. Stop, rebuild the base, then grow.

## Terms of Trade reads through this foundation
- [ROAS](https://barkingcat.ai/terms-of-trade/roas/)
- [CAC](https://barkingcat.ai/terms-of-trade/cac/)
- [Incrementality](https://barkingcat.ai/terms-of-trade/incrementality/)
- [Average order value](https://barkingcat.ai/terms-of-trade/average-order-value/)
- [Basket abandonment](https://barkingcat.ai/terms-of-trade/basket-abandonment/)
- [Returns rate](https://barkingcat.ai/terms-of-trade/returns-rate/)
- [Markdown](https://barkingcat.ai/terms-of-trade/markdown/)
- [Cost to serve](https://barkingcat.ai/terms-of-trade/cost-to-serve/)
- [A/B test](https://barkingcat.ai/terms-of-trade/ab-test/)

## Check it yourself, or have it checked

[The self-assessment](https://barkingcat.ai/the-cats-whiskers/assessment/) runs all thirty-six checks in thirty minutes and nothing you enter leaves your browser. [The Barking Cat Review](https://barkingcat.ai/review/) applies them to your business by walking it as a customer does, measuring what it finds against your numbers, and naming the constraint that is actually binding.

[RUN THE SELF-ASSESSMENT](https://barkingcat.ai/the-cats-whiskers/assessment/)

## Contact

steve@barkingcat.ai

Barking Cat Advisory Limited. Registered in England and Wales, company number 17338003.