DB Olympics

Queries · q218 · Chief Executive Officer · week 2, night 4

Merchant unit economics, rate-based view: top 20 by volume, 2025

“Among our largest merchants, which look efficient versus costly to serve on a like-for-like rate basis?”

Manager · asked the questionMaren OkaforChief Executive Officer. Joined two weeks ago from a European payments company. Board meeting at the end of January.
Analyst · planned the reportHannah BrooksMethodical: starts with an overview, then drills into whatever looks unusual.
Engineer · wrote the SQLOmarPragmatic: the shortest correct query, aggregates first and joins dimensions afterwards, FILTER clauses for conditional counts.

Fictional people at a fictional company, each played by a language-model agent. Who they are and what they are told

  1. A business event lands on the Chief Executive Officer's desk

    Week 2; shared with Tobias Lindqvist, Chief Financial Officer

    The board meets at the end of January and wants a clear view of unit economics: per merchant, vertical and country, what Tidewick earns and what it costs us to serve them. Which merchants are worth growing, and which cost more than they bring?

  2. Maren Okafor writes to Hannah Brooks

    The manager, at the start of week 2

    Subject: Great first week — here's where I want to go next

    Hannah,

    This was exactly the kind of grounding I needed — thank you. A few things surprised me and one big new ask from the board that I need us to lead together with Tobias.

    What surprised me / needs explaining:

    • Your fee-revenue figure (€53k trailing twelve months) and Tobias's (€93.6k for calendar 2025) don't match, and neither does your "72% from top 5, stable" concentration story line up cleanly with his "65% from top 10, declining as we add merchants." Before this goes near the board I need these reconciled into one number and one trend — I don't want finance and analytics telling different stories about the same business.
    • The refund story looks more nuanced than "refunds are creeping up broadly." Tobias's team says apparel's ~20% refund rate is just normal for the category, and the real spike this quarter came from a few smaller non-apparel merchants. I'd like your root-cause work to confirm or correct that before we flag it as a trend versus a one-off.
    • Operations found that delivery performance is almost entirely a carrier issue, not a merchant or warehouse issue — the same merchant looks great on one carrier and bad on another, and one carrier partner has clearly been underperforming since November. That changes how I think about "merchant health" — some of what looks like a merchant problem may really be a carrier problem.

    The new board ask — unit economics by merchant, vertical and country:

    The board wants to know, plainly, what we earn from serving each merchant/vertical/country and what it costs us — so we can say which parts of the business are worth leaning into and which are quietly expensive. This is bigger than one report, so here's what I think it needs, and I want you and Tobias to scope it jointly this week rather than me prescribing the method:

    • On the earnings side, we seem to have good data (processing fees, volume). Platform-plan fees are apparently missing from the warehouse — Tobias, can your team supply that separately so we're not missing a real revenue line?
    • On the cost side, I don't think we've ever assembled this: fulfillment/carrier cost, refund and return handling, support load, and the engineering reliability issues (webhook failures, the cart-reminder bug) that generate extra support tickets. Some of this may not be cleanly attributable per merchant in the data — I want an honest read on what's knowable now versus what needs to be modeled or estimated.
    • The deliverable I need by month-end: a short ranked view of which merchants/verticals/countries are clearly profitable to grow, which are marginal, and which likely cost more to serve than they return — even if the first pass is directional rather than precise.

    My questions for this week:

    1. Can you and Tobias reconcile the revenue and concentration numbers into a single, agreed figure and trend I can quote to the board without contradiction?
    2. What would it take to build even a rough cost-to-serve picture per merchant/vertical/country — and what's your honest confidence in it, given the data gaps you've already flagged (platform fees, refund-to-payout matching, carrier cost attribution)?
    3. On refunds — is the increase really concentrated in a few merchants/verticals as Tobias's team suggests, or is it broader? I want to know whether this is a few accounts to manage or a trend to worry about.
    4. Separately, flag for me which of our top accounts (like Castell Fasteners, with its traffic drop and unpaid invoices) look at risk — I want a short "accounts to watch" list alongside the unit economics work, not buried inside it.

    Let's talk briefly before you lock in this week's requests so we spend the slots on the unit economics scoping rather than re-running what we already mostly know.

    Thanks, Maren

    A note from the Chief Financial Officer, Tobias Lindqvist

    Note to Hannah Brooks

    Hannah — a few things from the finance side as you scope the board unit-economics piece:

    1. What does each merchant actually net us, after processing costs? We only see the economics clearly once payouts are broken into gross, fee, and net — a merchant with huge volume but thin margin on our fee side could look better on revenue than it really is on contribution.
    2. How exposed are we on currency? We earn and hold balances in many merchant currencies against a EUR view for the board — I want to know where FX swings could meaningfully move the 2025 numbers or the 2026 budget.
    3. Who's slow to pay us, and where? For the B2B wholesalers especially, I'd like a sense of outstanding receivables and how long they're taking to settle — that's a cost of serving them that doesn't show up in the headline revenue.

    If there's room, a rough read on how refund patterns differ by vertical or country would help round out the "which merchants are worth growing" question.

    Happy to talk through before Friday's memo.

    — Tobias

  3. Hannah Brooks plans the night

    The analyst · week 2, night 4, request 2 of 3

    Big catch from last night: the "directional unit economics" report is mathematically misleading, not just rough — every vertical shows net contribution of -300% to -1450% of fee revenue, because it nets full order-value refunds and full shipping outlays against our thin processing-fee take (e.g. Apparel refunds of €281k vs. €33k fee revenue). Refunds and shipping are gross merchandise/logistics flows, not Tidewick's P&L costs on a 1:1 basis with our fee revenue — comparing them directly produces a result that would badly mislead the board if presented as-is. The Deskline Supplies shipping-cost check came back ambiguous rather than conclusive: costs are spread across many carrier/service lanes (not one bad row), but with extreme within-lane variance (€5 to €9,509 in the same lane) that's plausible for a B2B freight mix but still needs an Ops/Finance sanity check before I'd trust it in a model. On the platform-billing-risk side: only 4 merchants are past_due/suspended/churned, all small (<€1.3k TTM fee revenue each) — not a board-level concern on its own. Tonight I'm using all 3 slots to put the unit-economics scoping on solid footing before month-end: (1) redo the vertical view as comparable rates against gross volume rather than raw euros against fee revenue, (2) the same clean rate view at merchant grain for the top accounts (since the board wants merchant-level too), and (3) a direct check on whether shipping cost is actually a net cost or a wash once customer-paid shipping is netted against carrier cost — this resolves a real "whose cost is this" ambiguity I flagged rather than assuming an answer. I'm not spending a further slot chasing Finance's €93,583 discrepancy blindly; that needs a joint query walkthrough with Tobias's team, which I'll propose directly rather than guess at in another report.

    Merchant unit economics, rate-based view: top 20 by volume, 2025
    Question
    Among our largest merchants, which look efficient versus costly to serve on a like-for-like rate basis?
    One row per
    merchant (tenant), top 20 by gross payment volume
    Columns
    • merchant name
    • vertical
    • gross payment volume (EUR, 2025)
    • fee revenue (EUR, 2025)
    • take rate (%, fee revenue / gross volume)
    • refund rate (%, order_returns.refund_total / gross volume)
    • shipping cost rate (%, shipments.shipping_cost / gross volume)
    • tickets per 100 orders
  4. Omar writes the SQL

    The engineer · 1 dry run on the empty schema, then the submission

    Dry run 1 · STATUS: COMPILES (dry run on the empty schema, no data read)
    WITH payout_eur AS (
      SELECT p.tenant_id,
             SUM(p.gross_amount / er.rate) AS gross_eur,
             SUM(p.fee_amount / er.rate) AS fee_eur
      FROM payouts p
      JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = p.currency_code AND er.as_of = p.paid_at::date
      WHERE p.paid_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND p.paid_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
      GROUP BY p.tenant_id
    ),
    returns_eur AS (
      SELECT r.tenant_id,
             SUM(r.refund_total / er.rate) AS refund_eur
      FROM order_returns r
      JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = r.currency_code AND er.as_of = r.requested_at::date
      WHERE r.requested_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND r.requested_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
      GROUP BY r.tenant_id
    ),
    shipping_eur AS (
      SELECT s.tenant_id,
             SUM(s.shipping_cost / er.rate) AS shipping_eur
      FROM shipments s
      JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = s.currency_code AND er.as_of = s.shipped_at::date
      WHERE s.shipped_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND s.shipped_at < DATE '2026-01-01' AND s.shipping_cost IS NOT NULL
      GROUP BY s.tenant_id
    ),
    orders_cnt AS (
      SELECT tenant_id, COUNT(*) AS orders_2025
      FROM orders
      WHERE placed_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND placed_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
      GROUP BY tenant_id
    ),
    tickets_cnt AS (
      SELECT tenant_id, COUNT(*) AS tickets_2025
      FROM tickets
      WHERE created_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND created_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
      GROUP BY tenant_id
    )
    SELECT t.name AS merchant_name,
           t.industry AS vertical,
           ROUND(pe.gross_eur, 2) AS gross_payment_volume_eur,
           ROUND(pe.fee_eur, 2) AS fee_revenue_eur,
           ROUND(100 * pe.fee_eur / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0), 2) AS take_rate_pct,
           ROUND(100 * COALESCE(re.refund_eur, 0) / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0), 2) AS refund_rate_pct,
           ROUND(100 * COALESCE(se.shipping_eur, 0) / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0), 2) AS shipping_cost_rate_pct,
           ROUND(100 * COALESCE(tc.tickets_2025, 0) / NULLIF(oc.orders_2025, 0)::numeric, 2) AS tickets_per_100_orders
    FROM payout_eur pe
    JOIN tenants t ON t.id = pe.tenant_id
    LEFT JOIN returns_eur re ON re.tenant_id = pe.tenant_id
    LEFT JOIN shipping_eur se ON se.tenant_id = pe.tenant_id
    LEFT JOIN orders_cnt oc ON oc.tenant_id = pe.tenant_id
    LEFT JOIN tickets_cnt tc ON tc.tenant_id = pe.tenant_id
    ORDER BY pe.gross_eur DESC, t.name
    LIMIT 20

    “Query compiles cleanly and returns the 8 expected columns, one row per merchant. Submitting.”

    Submitted · the SQL of the last dry run, unchanged · Submitted to tonight's batch. Your work on this request is done.

    “Submitted. Summary of what the report delivers: - Grain: one row per merchant (tenant), top 20 by 2025 gross payment volume (EUR) - Columns: merchant name, vertical, gross payment volume (EUR), fee revenue (EUR), take rate %, refund rate %, shipping cost rate %, tickets per 100 orders - Methodology: all rate numerators/denominators are in EUR, converted via the daily EUR exchange rate on each transaction's own date (payout date for volume/fees, return request date for refunds, ship date for shipping cost). Rates are computed against gross volume as requested, not against fee revenue. One caveat noted to the analyst: I didn't have the exact prior "vertical-level unit-economics" query to copy verbatim, so I used the most natural matching sources (payouts for gross/fee, order_returns for refunds, shipments for shipping cost, tickets vs. orders placed in 2025) — worth a quick cross-check against tonight's vertical report for consistency.”

  5. The report comes back overnight

    As Hannah Brooks saw it, from the small dataset the agents worked on

    merchant_name          | vertical                  | gross_payment_volume_eur | fee_revenue_eur | take_rate_pct | refund_rate_pct | shipping_cost_rate_pct | tickets_per_100_orders
    -----------------------+---------------------------+--------------------------+-----------------+---------------+-----------------+------------------------+-----------------------
    Cragsley Outfitters    | Apparel & Footwear        |                702797.52 |        22263.37 |          3.17 |           22.42 |                   2.16 |                   11.0
    Marrowby & Vane        | Apparel & Footwear        |                276394.66 |         4858.84 |          1.76 |           21.15 |                   4.31 |                  13.14
    Cinder Peak Sports Co. | Sports & Outdoor          |                126336.27 |         3877.43 |          3.07 |           12.87 |                   1.33 |                  12.72
    OfficeHub Nordic       | Office Supplies (B2B)     |                111821.72 |         3618.19 |          3.24 |            19.8 |                   4.43 |                   8.82
    Castell Fasteners      | Industrial Supplies (B2B) |                107753.57 |         3499.84 |          3.25 |            3.77 |                   5.52 |                   8.18
    Deskline Supplies      | Office Supplies (B2B)     |                 64727.75 |          974.76 |          1.51 |            4.88 |                 120.31 |                  14.67
    Fennel & Flint         | Home & Living             |                 62508.63 |         1739.27 |          2.78 |            6.07 |                   4.97 |                  17.22
    Petalcourt Beauty      | Beauty                    |                 61865.09 |         1225.61 |          1.98 |            5.81 |                   7.64 |                  16.86
    Grind Collective       | Food & Coffee             |                 39682.45 |         1265.15 |          3.19 |             0.1 |                   18.1 |                  10.98
    Kayak Corner           | Sports & Outdoor          |                  39521.7 |         1174.45 |          2.97 |            6.82 |                   2.36 |                  18.35
    Fell & Fjell           | Sports & Outdoor          |                 33288.47 |          468.76 |          1.41 |           17.21 |                   0.21 |                   9.41
    Honeycomb Larder       | Food & Coffee             |                 31808.64 |         1145.98 |           3.6 |            0.86 |                   8.63 |                   9.35
    Kibblewick             | Pet Supplies              |                 31741.18 |           732.3 |          2.31 |             0.1 |                  17.66 |                  10.71
    Oakhurst Tailoring     | Apparel & Footwear        |                  24619.8 |          628.93 |          2.55 |           12.83 |                   0.46 |                  16.36
    Velvet Ash             | Apparel & Footwear        |                  23605.9 |          333.41 |          1.41 |           23.14 |                   0.35 |                  14.18
    Coastline Interiors    | Home & Living             |                 20388.42 |          288.84 |          1.42 |            6.86 |                   0.48 |                  13.55
    Willow & Wren          | Home & Living             |                  18982.3 |          342.49 |           1.8 |           12.98 |                   4.39 |                  19.59
    Circuit Harbor         | Consumer Electronics      |                 18807.88 |          334.27 |          1.78 |             0.3 |                   0.69 |                   5.26
    Nordic Bloom Cosmetics | Beauty                    |                 17854.38 |          254.63 |          1.43 |            1.43 |                   0.68 |                   9.27
    Juniper Apothecary     | Beauty                    |                 17593.14 |          263.63 |           1.5 |            2.44 |                   0.42 |                  10.83
    (20 rows)
  6. What came of it

    The memo and the queries that followed; links found by title, so inferred

    It builds on:

  7. It becomes benchmark query q218

    Changed only where the benchmark needs the same result on every system

    • spellingcast (4×)
    • spellingfetch first
    • determinismtie-breaker: tenant names are not unique
    • numericsdocs/NUMERICS.md: rounding removed; results keep full precision; bare NUMERIC cast that only served the rounding removed
    • numericsdocs/NUMERICS.md: x / exchange rate cast to NUMERIC(18,6) (4×)
    • made explicita selected t.col gets AS col, its standard name made explicit (3×)
    • determinismthe standard leaves the place of NULLs in a sort to the implementation: NULLS LAST ascending, NULLS FIRST descending, as in the reference results (3×)
    • placeholderfetch first
    The benchmark text, against the submitted SQL
    WITH payout_eur AS (  SELECT p.tenant_id,         SUM(p.gross_amount / er.rate) AS gross_eur,         SUM(p.fee_amount / er.rate) AS fee_eur  SELECT p.tenant_id AS tenant_id,         SUM(CAST(p.gross_amount / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6))) AS gross_eur,         SUM(CAST(p.fee_amount / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6))) AS fee_eur  FROM payouts p  JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = p.currency_code AND er.as_of = p.paid_at::date  JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = p.currency_code AND er.as_of = CAST(p.paid_at AS date)  WHERE p.paid_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND p.paid_at < DATE '2026-01-01'  GROUP BY p.tenant_id),returns_eur AS (  SELECT r.tenant_id,         SUM(r.refund_total / er.rate) AS refund_eur  SELECT r.tenant_id AS tenant_id,         SUM(CAST(r.refund_total / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6))) AS refund_eur  FROM order_returns r  JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = r.currency_code AND er.as_of = r.requested_at::date  JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = r.currency_code AND er.as_of = CAST(r.requested_at AS date)  WHERE r.requested_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND r.requested_at < DATE '2026-01-01'  GROUP BY r.tenant_id),shipping_eur AS (  SELECT s.tenant_id,         SUM(s.shipping_cost / er.rate) AS shipping_eur  SELECT s.tenant_id AS tenant_id,         SUM(CAST(s.shipping_cost / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6))) AS shipping_eur  FROM shipments s  JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = s.currency_code AND er.as_of = s.shipped_at::date  JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = s.currency_code AND er.as_of = CAST(s.shipped_at AS date)  WHERE s.shipped_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND s.shipped_at < DATE '2026-01-01' AND s.shipping_cost IS NOT NULL  GROUP BY s.tenant_id),orders_cnt AS (  SELECT tenant_id, COUNT(*) AS orders_2025  FROM orders  WHERE placed_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND placed_at < DATE '2026-01-01'  GROUP BY tenant_id),tickets_cnt AS (  SELECT tenant_id, COUNT(*) AS tickets_2025  FROM tickets  WHERE created_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND created_at < DATE '2026-01-01'  GROUP BY tenant_id)SELECT t.name AS merchant_name,       t.industry AS vertical,       ROUND(pe.gross_eur, 2) AS gross_payment_volume_eur,       ROUND(pe.fee_eur, 2) AS fee_revenue_eur,       ROUND(100 * pe.fee_eur / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0), 2) AS take_rate_pct,       ROUND(100 * COALESCE(re.refund_eur, 0) / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0), 2) AS refund_rate_pct,       ROUND(100 * COALESCE(se.shipping_eur, 0) / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0), 2) AS shipping_cost_rate_pct,       ROUND(100 * COALESCE(tc.tickets_2025, 0) / NULLIF(oc.orders_2025, 0)::numeric, 2) AS tickets_per_100_orders       pe.gross_eur AS gross_payment_volume_eur,       pe.fee_eur AS fee_revenue_eur,       100 * pe.fee_eur / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0) AS take_rate_pct,       100 * COALESCE(re.refund_eur, 0) / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0) AS refund_rate_pct,       100 * COALESCE(se.shipping_eur, 0) / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0) AS shipping_cost_rate_pct,       100 * COALESCE(tc.tickets_2025, 0) / CAST(NULLIF(oc.orders_2025, 0) AS numeric(18,6)) AS tickets_per_100_ordersFROM payout_eur peJOIN tenants t ON t.id = pe.tenant_idLEFT JOIN returns_eur re ON re.tenant_id = pe.tenant_idLEFT JOIN shipping_eur se ON se.tenant_id = pe.tenant_idLEFT JOIN orders_cnt oc ON oc.tenant_id = pe.tenant_idLEFT JOIN tickets_cnt tc ON tc.tenant_id = pe.tenant_idORDER BY pe.gross_eur DESC, t.nameLIMIT 20ORDER BY pe.gross_eur DESC NULLS FIRST, t.name NULLS LAST, pe.tenant_id NULLS LAST{{fetch_first(20)}}
    WITH payout_eur AS (
      SELECT p.tenant_id AS tenant_id,
             SUM(CAST(p.gross_amount / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6))) AS gross_eur,
             SUM(CAST(p.fee_amount / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6))) AS fee_eur
      FROM payouts p
      JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = p.currency_code AND er.as_of = CAST(p.paid_at AS date)
      WHERE p.paid_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND p.paid_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
      GROUP BY p.tenant_id
    ),
    returns_eur AS (
      SELECT r.tenant_id AS tenant_id,
             SUM(CAST(r.refund_total / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6))) AS refund_eur
      FROM order_returns r
      JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = r.currency_code AND er.as_of = CAST(r.requested_at AS date)
      WHERE r.requested_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND r.requested_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
      GROUP BY r.tenant_id
    ),
    shipping_eur AS (
      SELECT s.tenant_id AS tenant_id,
             SUM(CAST(s.shipping_cost / er.rate AS NUMERIC(18,6))) AS shipping_eur
      FROM shipments s
      JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = s.currency_code AND er.as_of = CAST(s.shipped_at AS date)
      WHERE s.shipped_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND s.shipped_at < DATE '2026-01-01' AND s.shipping_cost IS NOT NULL
      GROUP BY s.tenant_id
    ),
    orders_cnt AS (
      SELECT tenant_id, COUNT(*) AS orders_2025
      FROM orders
      WHERE placed_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND placed_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
      GROUP BY tenant_id
    ),
    tickets_cnt AS (
      SELECT tenant_id, COUNT(*) AS tickets_2025
      FROM tickets
      WHERE created_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND created_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
      GROUP BY tenant_id
    )
    SELECT t.name AS merchant_name,
           t.industry AS vertical,
           pe.gross_eur AS gross_payment_volume_eur,
           pe.fee_eur AS fee_revenue_eur,
           100 * pe.fee_eur / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0) AS take_rate_pct,
           100 * COALESCE(re.refund_eur, 0) / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0) AS refund_rate_pct,
           100 * COALESCE(se.shipping_eur, 0) / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0) AS shipping_cost_rate_pct,
           100 * COALESCE(tc.tickets_2025, 0) / CAST(NULLIF(oc.orders_2025, 0) AS numeric(18,6)) AS tickets_per_100_orders
    FROM payout_eur pe
    JOIN tenants t ON t.id = pe.tenant_id
    LEFT JOIN returns_eur re ON re.tenant_id = pe.tenant_id
    LEFT JOIN shipping_eur se ON se.tenant_id = pe.tenant_id
    LEFT JOIN orders_cnt oc ON oc.tenant_id = pe.tenant_id
    LEFT JOIN tickets_cnt tc ON tc.tenant_id = pe.tenant_id
    ORDER BY pe.gross_eur DESC NULLS FIRST, t.name NULLS LAST, pe.tenant_id NULLS LAST
    FETCH FIRST 20 ROWS ONLY
    10 ms100 ms1 sHyper77.6 msDuckDB22.7 msGizmoSQL28.3 msclickhouse_brew428 msFirebolterrorDataFusion162 msClickHouseerror
    • Firebolt{ "errors": [ { "description": "Line 3, Column 34: Operations between decimals with different precision and scale is not supported at the moment. Explicitly cast one of the decimals to other decimal precision and scale." } ], "query": { "query_id": "8520c163-bb1e-4624-b81e-5661f71e651d", "query_labe
    • ClickHouseCode: 69. DB::Exception: Decimal result's scale is less than argument's one: while executing function divide on arguments __table2.gross_amount Decimal(14, 4) Decimal64(size = 0), __table3.rate Decimal(12, 6) Decimal64(size = 0). (ARGUMENT_OUT_OF_BOUND)
  8. Everything, as recorded

    The agents' own records, as the role play wrote them; only the personal data of the person who ran it is redacted

    Omar's whole session, 7 turns
    • The request, as Omar received it
      Report request from Hannah Brooks (analyst for the Chief Executive Officer):
      
      Title: Merchant unit economics, rate-based view: top 20 by volume, 2025
      Question: Among our largest merchants, which look efficient versus costly to serve on a like-for-like rate basis?
      Grain: one row per merchant (tenant), top 20 by gross payment volume
      Columns:
      - merchant name
      - vertical
      - gross payment volume (EUR, 2025)
      - fee revenue (EUR, 2025)
      - take rate (%, fee revenue / gross volume)
      - refund rate (%, order_returns.refund_total / gross volume)
      - shipping cost rate (%, shipments.shipping_cost / gross volume)
      - tickets per 100 orders
      Details: Same sources, filters, EUR conversion and rate definitions as tonight's vertical-level unit-economics report, but aggregated per tenant instead of per vertical, limited to the top 20 merchants ranked by 2025 gross payment volume (EUR). This gives the board a merchant-level cut using the corrected, comparable methodology (rates against gross volume, not against fee revenue). Order by gross payment volume EUR descending.
      
      Check your query with the warehouse's dry_run tool, then hand it in with submit.
    • Omar calls dry_run
      WITH payout_eur AS (
        SELECT p.tenant_id,
               SUM(p.gross_amount / er.rate) AS gross_eur,
               SUM(p.fee_amount / er.rate) AS fee_eur
        FROM payouts p
        JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = p.currency_code AND er.as_of = p.paid_at::date
        WHERE p.paid_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND p.paid_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
        GROUP BY p.tenant_id
      ),
      returns_eur AS (
        SELECT r.tenant_id,
               SUM(r.refund_total / er.rate) AS refund_eur
        FROM order_returns r
        JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = r.currency_code AND er.as_of = r.requested_at::date
        WHERE r.requested_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND r.requested_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
        GROUP BY r.tenant_id
      ),
      shipping_eur AS (
        SELECT s.tenant_id,
               SUM(s.shipping_cost / er.rate) AS shipping_eur
        FROM shipments s
        JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = s.currency_code AND er.as_of = s.shipped_at::date
        WHERE s.shipped_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND s.shipped_at < DATE '2026-01-01' AND s.shipping_cost IS NOT NULL
        GROUP BY s.tenant_id
      ),
      orders_cnt AS (
        SELECT tenant_id, COUNT(*) AS orders_2025
        FROM orders
        WHERE placed_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND placed_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
        GROUP BY tenant_id
      ),
      tickets_cnt AS (
        SELECT tenant_id, COUNT(*) AS tickets_2025
        FROM tickets
        WHERE created_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND created_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
        GROUP BY tenant_id
      )
      SELECT t.name AS merchant_name,
             t.industry AS vertical,
             ROUND(pe.gross_eur, 2) AS gross_payment_volume_eur,
             ROUND(pe.fee_eur, 2) AS fee_revenue_eur,
             ROUND(100 * pe.fee_eur / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0), 2) AS take_rate_pct,
             ROUND(100 * COALESCE(re.refund_eur, 0) / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0), 2) AS refund_rate_pct,
             ROUND(100 * COALESCE(se.shipping_eur, 0) / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0), 2) AS shipping_cost_rate_pct,
             ROUND(100 * COALESCE(tc.tickets_2025, 0) / NULLIF(oc.orders_2025, 0)::numeric, 2) AS tickets_per_100_orders
      FROM payout_eur pe
      JOIN tenants t ON t.id = pe.tenant_id
      LEFT JOIN returns_eur re ON re.tenant_id = pe.tenant_id
      LEFT JOIN shipping_eur se ON se.tenant_id = pe.tenant_id
      LEFT JOIN orders_cnt oc ON oc.tenant_id = pe.tenant_id
      LEFT JOIN tickets_cnt tc ON tc.tenant_id = pe.tenant_id
      ORDER BY pe.gross_eur DESC, t.name
      LIMIT 20
    • The warehouse answers
      STATUS: COMPILES (dry run on the empty schema, no data read)
      COLUMNS: merchant_name, vertical, gross_payment_volume_eur, fee_revenue_eur, take_rate_pct, refund_rate_pct, shipping_cost_rate_pct, tickets_per_100_orders
    • OmarQuery compiles cleanly and returns the 8 expected columns, one row per merchant. Submitting.
    • Omar calls submit
      WITH payout_eur AS (
        SELECT p.tenant_id,
               SUM(p.gross_amount / er.rate) AS gross_eur,
               SUM(p.fee_amount / er.rate) AS fee_eur
        FROM payouts p
        JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = p.currency_code AND er.as_of = p.paid_at::date
        WHERE p.paid_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND p.paid_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
        GROUP BY p.tenant_id
      ),
      returns_eur AS (
        SELECT r.tenant_id,
               SUM(r.refund_total / er.rate) AS refund_eur
        FROM order_returns r
        JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = r.currency_code AND er.as_of = r.requested_at::date
        WHERE r.requested_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND r.requested_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
        GROUP BY r.tenant_id
      ),
      shipping_eur AS (
        SELECT s.tenant_id,
               SUM(s.shipping_cost / er.rate) AS shipping_eur
        FROM shipments s
        JOIN exchange_rates er ON er.base_code = 'EUR' AND er.quote_code = s.currency_code AND er.as_of = s.shipped_at::date
        WHERE s.shipped_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND s.shipped_at < DATE '2026-01-01' AND s.shipping_cost IS NOT NULL
        GROUP BY s.tenant_id
      ),
      orders_cnt AS (
        SELECT tenant_id, COUNT(*) AS orders_2025
        FROM orders
        WHERE placed_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND placed_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
        GROUP BY tenant_id
      ),
      tickets_cnt AS (
        SELECT tenant_id, COUNT(*) AS tickets_2025
        FROM tickets
        WHERE created_at >= DATE '2025-01-01' AND created_at < DATE '2026-01-01'
        GROUP BY tenant_id
      )
      SELECT t.name AS merchant_name,
             t.industry AS vertical,
             ROUND(pe.gross_eur, 2) AS gross_payment_volume_eur,
             ROUND(pe.fee_eur, 2) AS fee_revenue_eur,
             ROUND(100 * pe.fee_eur / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0), 2) AS take_rate_pct,
             ROUND(100 * COALESCE(re.refund_eur, 0) / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0), 2) AS refund_rate_pct,
             ROUND(100 * COALESCE(se.shipping_eur, 0) / NULLIF(pe.gross_eur, 0), 2) AS shipping_cost_rate_pct,
             ROUND(100 * COALESCE(tc.tickets_2025, 0) / NULLIF(oc.orders_2025, 0)::numeric, 2) AS tickets_per_100_orders
      FROM payout_eur pe
      JOIN tenants t ON t.id = pe.tenant_id
      LEFT JOIN returns_eur re ON re.tenant_id = pe.tenant_id
      LEFT JOIN shipping_eur se ON se.tenant_id = pe.tenant_id
      LEFT JOIN orders_cnt oc ON oc.tenant_id = pe.tenant_id
      LEFT JOIN tickets_cnt tc ON tc.tenant_id = pe.tenant_id
      ORDER BY pe.gross_eur DESC, t.name
      LIMIT 20
    • The warehouse answers
      Submitted to tonight's batch. Your work on this request is done.
    • OmarSubmitted. Summary of what the report delivers: - **Grain:** one row per merchant (tenant), top 20 by 2025 gross payment volume (EUR) - **Columns:** merchant name, vertical, gross payment volume (EUR), fee revenue (EUR), take rate %, refund rate %, shipping cost rate %, tickets per 100 orders - **Methodology:** all rate numerators/denominators are in EUR, converted via the daily EUR exchange rate on each transaction's own date (payout date for volume/fees, return request date for refunds, ship date for shipping cost). Rates are computed against gross volume as requested, not against fee revenue. One caveat noted to the analyst: I didn't have the exact prior "vertical-level unit-economics" query to copy verbatim, so I used the most natural matching sources (payouts for gross/fee, order_returns for refunds, shipments for shipping cost, tickets vs. orders placed in 2025) — worth a quick cross-check against tonight's vertical report for consistency.