For PE Firms & M&A Advisors

Amazon is material to the deal.
Is your DD keeping up?

Most PE firms evaluate Amazon revenue the same way they evaluate any revenue channel — verify the numbers and move on. That approach has cost investors millions. When Amazon is a material driver of brand value, the channel deserves specialist due diligence that goes far deeper than a P&L reconciliation.

Package Options
Quick Scan$5,000
Standard Package$15,000
Enterprise Package$25,000
Quick Scan Delivery5 days
Standard Delivery10 days
Enterprise Delivery14 days
Works Pre-LOIYes
PE-Grade ReportingYes
The Problem

What happens when PE firms skip Amazon-specific DD

Amazon is not a passive sales channel. It is an active, fee-heavy, algorithm-driven platform that can change the economics of any brand overnight. The risks that standard financial due diligence misses are exactly the risks that destroy value post-acquisition.

💸
Margin Collapse Post-Close
Amazon FBA fees, PPC costs, return rates, and storage charges consume 45–55% of revenue for many brands. Reported margin rarely reflects true Amazon contribution margin. You inherit the gap at close.
⚠️
Account Health Time Bombs
Suspension risks, IP complaints, review manipulation flags, policy violations — these don't show up in financial statements. They show up 90 days post-acquisition when Amazon acts on them. Account reinstatement can take months.
📉
Platform Dependency Risk
Amazon controls pricing floors, listing eligibility, and customer relationships entirely. A brand deriving 70%+ of revenue from Amazon has concentration risk that requires specific mitigation — not just disclosure in the CIM.
🏷️
PPC Architecture Fragility
Many brands are running PPC campaigns that mask organic ranking deterioration. Remove the ad spend and revenue drops dramatically. Standard DD never catches this because it doesn't look at the relationship between PPC and organic performance.
🔄
Inventory Economics Misread
FBA inventory valuation, long-term storage fees, stranded inventory, and reorder cycles create a cash position that rarely matches the balance sheet. Getting this wrong affects your working capital assumptions at close.
🛡️
Brand Registry & IP Gaps
Amazon Brand Registry status, trademark coverage by ASIN, authorized reseller controls — gaps here invite hijackers and counterfeiters the moment you announce an acquisition. These are fixable pre-close and catastrophic post-close.
Why LWA

The advisor who has been on both sides of this platform

Most Amazon DD consultants have operated brands. We did something different — we built Amazon's seller onboarding platform from the inside, managed enterprise vendor relationships with Microsoft, Apple, and Adobe at Amazon, and then spent twenty years operating 7 of our own brands with $15M of personal capital on the line.

"I was operating when Amazon launched its ads platform and changed the economics of selling overnight. I had to liquidate $4M in inventory. I understand platform risk at a level that only comes from surviving it with your own capital exposed — not from reading a report about someone else's experience."
20+
Years Operating
Active daily operator on Amazon. Current knowledge, not archived expertise.
$15M
Own Capital Deployed
We advise on risks we have personally absorbed. That changes the quality of the advice.
5–14
Day Delivery
Built for LOI windows. PE-grade institutional reporting on your timeline, not ours.
Three Tiers

Right-sized for your deal timeline and complexity

Every deal is different. A pre-LOI scan requires different depth than post-LOI full diligence. We have three tiers structured around real deal timelines.

Pre-LOI · Fast
Quick Scan
$5,000
5-day delivery
Revenue verification vs. Seller Central
Account health & suspension risk assessment
Top 10 ASIN performance review
PPC spend vs. organic ratio
Brand Registry & IP status
Red flag summary with deal implications
Go / No-Go recommendation
Complex Deals · Multi-Brand
Enterprise Package
$25,000
14-day delivery
Everything in Standard Package
Multi-brand / multi-account analysis
International marketplace assessment
Vendor Central vs. Seller Central dynamics
Full supply chain & supplier risk assessment
Detailed integration & transition plan
Management team Amazon capability assessment
Full CIM Amazon section drafted
Ongoing advisory support through close
What You Receive

PE-grade deliverables built for your deal team

Every engagement delivers a structured report formatted for investment committee review, not a list of observations. Your deal team can use it directly.

Executive Summary
One-page deal recommendation with overall risk rating, key findings, and valuation multiple impact. Written for senior stakeholders who need the bottom line immediately.
Channel Economics Report
True Amazon P&L — contribution margin per SKU after every platform fee, advertising cost, return, and storage charge. The numbers the seller's P&L doesn't show.
Risk Register
Categorized risk inventory — Critical, High, Medium, Low — with probability assessment, financial exposure estimate, and specific mitigation for each item.
Valuation Multiple Impact
Every material finding translated into acquisition multiple impact. Not just "this is a risk" — but "this risk justifies a 0.3x reduction in the multiple and here is why."
90-Day Post-Acquisition Roadmap
Prioritized action plan for the first 90 days post-close. Addresses every risk identified in the report with specific owners, timelines, and success metrics.
Opportunity Assessment
Where is the upside the seller isn't capturing? Untapped ASINs, international expansion readiness, PPC efficiency gains, and catalog optimization opportunities with revenue impact estimates.

Your LOI window is already running.

Every day without Amazon channel clarity is a day your deal team is making assumptions. We can be engaged and delivering within 24 hours of scoping.

Request a Scoping Call Back to Home