Fractional Talent for eCommerce, Retail and CPG

Taylor Crane

February 25, 2026

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eCommerce, retail, and CPG companies operate in uniquely fast-moving environments due to shifting consumer behavior, margin pressure, and complex omnichannel dynamics. Fractional leaders can help these orgs move faster and make stronger decisions in ways traditional full-time hiring often cannot, particularly across growth, merchandising, supply chain, and brand execution.

If you do not have the resources of a national brand, accessing specialized expertise can be mission critical. Fractional work is uniquely well-suited for these situations, and at Fractional Jobs we consistently see high-impact examples across DTC, wholesale, and multi-channel consumer businesses.

Here are a few scenarios where fractional talent is especially valuable for eCommerce, retail, and CPG companies:

Building and Refining Cross-Channel Growth Strategy: A fractional growth leader can evaluate acquisition channels, diagnose conversion issues, and design a more sustainable growth plan. These experts often bring experience from scaling DTC brands, marketplace storefronts, and retail partnerships. They help teams understand unit economics, improve CAC and LTV balance, and uncover levers that create healthier margins.
Improving Merchandising, Forecasting, and Revenue Planning: A fractional merchandising or planning leader can tighten assortment strategy, reduce inventory risk, and align forecast accuracy with sales goals. They bring deep knowledge of category dynamics and seasonality. Their work helps companies avoid overstock costs and strengthen contribution margin without major headcount investments.
Stabilizing Supply Chain and Fulfillment Operations: For companies experiencing rapid demand shifts, international sourcing complexities, or thin margins, fractional supply chain expertise can reduce operational waste.
Expanding Into Retail, Wholesale, or Marketplaces: A fractional retail or channel development expert can manage retail outreach, build sell-in materials, negotiate terms, and oversee onboarding with major retailers. They can also stand up marketplace infrastructure across Amazon, Walmart, or similar platforms, while ensuring margin protection.
Enhancing Brand, Creative, and Content Execution: Fractional brand or creative leaders can sharpen your positioning, oversee content production at scale, and build systems that translate your brand into assets that convert. This is particularly helpful for CPG and DTC companies that need polished brand execution early but cannot justify a full in-house creative department.

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eCommerce Case Study

When Human Touch (eCommerce massage chairs) needed a brand refresh and pivot to DTC, they found the perfect fitness and wellness-focused Fractional CMO with 20 years in DTC. In just 10 hours per week, Erika executed a full brand refresh, spun up a new digital presence, and scaled awareness through influencer partnerships. Read the full case study here.

Fractional Jobs also helped:

Tabu (wellness eCommerce) hire a Fractional Retention Marketing Lead for 8 hours per week.
ByHeart (infant formula eCommerce) hire a Fractional Product Innovation Expert for 10 hours per week.
Myos (supplements CPG) hire a Fractional CFO for 5 hours per week.

All with similar results.

Get help hiring a fractional exec for your eCommerce or CPG brand, learn more here.

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Who Wrote This Guide?

I’m Taylor Crane, founder of Fractional Jobs (the site you’re reading this on!).

I’ve helped 100+ companies hire fractional execs and other fractional talent. I also spent a year as a Fractional Head of Product.

I intimately understand how fractional work works from both sides of the table. And this guide is meant to help everyone get up to speed on the fractional world, quickly.