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As direct-to-consumer brands rush to sign leases, swimwear brand Andie is taking a more methodical approach. The swimwear brand has two pop-ups in the works – one in Sag Harbor that opened at the beginning of the month, and another in Berkeley that’s scheduled to open on May 27," “It’s still early for us in our retail journey, and I think there’s a lot for us to learn,” founder Melanie Travis said.
The direct-to-consumer startup boom has subsequently created a growing arms race in fulfillment over the past couple years, but which hit a peak last week. Last week, Shopify announced that it was acquiring Deliverr, a fulfillment startup that integrates with marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart and eBay for $2.1 billion.
It’s easier than ever to start a direct-to-consumer brand, but it’s harder to scale one. But this changing landscape has given rise to a new realization: that there’s never going to be one marketing channel, one community-building tactic, or one product development strategy that every brand can embrace to rise above the competition.
After years of being known as an online-only bra startup that caters to millennials, ThirdLove has big plans this year to grow its brand. The biggest piece of news, announced Monday, is that ThirdLove is acquiring three-year-old startup Kit Undergarments for an undisclosed amount. In addition, ThirdLove plans to grow its store count this year, and scale its sports bra collection.
Last week, inflation hit a 40 year high, according to a new report from the federal government. It’s something that direct-to-consumer executives have been preparing for over the past year. But now, as inflation only gets more urgent, brands have a new reality to consider: they are also having to rethink their value proposition as shoppers become more price-conscious.
Home goods brand Brooklinen is betting on new channels to drive sales growth in 2022. Most significantly, the company plans to triple its retail presence in 2022, opening new stores in Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Portland and San Francisco.
Shopify became an e-commerce juggernaut thanks in part to the wave of direct-to-consumer brands in the early 2010s that were able to acquire tens of thousands of customers through cheap Facebook ads. Now, Shopify is betting on influencers – whether that’s a professional athlete or a TikTok chef – to fuel its next wave of growth. Shopify is trying to do this in a variety of ways, most notably with the acquisition of influencer marketing startup Dovetale, announced today.
The payments company Fast just announced that it's shutting down after raising hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital. Fast's trajectory is emblematic of the struggles that e-commerce startups may face this year trying to raise new funding rounds.
The past two years have been a boon for e-commerce companies. But that success has brought with it a double-edged sword. In order to meet the insatiable demand for online shopping, e-commerce brands have had to buy more inventory. And that’s gotten more complicated, and more expensive over the past few years for a variety of reasons, with bootstrapped brands bearing the brunt of the costs.
This week marked the start of one of the biggest industry tradeshows: Shoptalk, where executives at direct-to-consumer startups will find no shortage of proclamations over what the future of retail looks like. At this year’s event, terms like metaverse and Web3 continue to edge their way into the mainstream, but events like Shoptalk also provide a window into how the e-commerce landscape has evolved.
Harry's is releasing a new ad campaign today to re-introduce customers to the benefits of its razors. Its co-CEO Jeff Raider spoke with Modern Retail about the company's growth, as well as the razor market as a whole.
As more venture capitalists turn their attention toward e-commerce tech startups and away from DTC brands, newer investors say they want consumer startups to rethink the valuations they raise at. Willow Growth Partners, founded by Deborah Benton and Amanda Schutzbank, is one such fund. Benton, the former COO of both Nasty Gal and ShoeDazzle, said in an interview with Modern Retail that she became disenchanted in recent years after seeing many startups that “had raised too much capital at too high valuations."
Over the years, link-in-bio tools have become an essential part of social commerce in the U.S. Now, Shopify is hoping to grab a greater slice of those sales with a new link-in-bio tool it is announcing today called Linkpop, which will be available free of charge to anyone, whether or not they have a Shopify account.
There have been a handful of big industry trade events stacked up within weeks of each other. Meanwhile, online chatter among DTC executives in recent weeks has been centered around the shows. But, what everyone is still trying to figure out is how much to invest in these events.
Between 2018 and 2019 three startups -- Naked Retail Group, Neighborhood Goods and Showfields -- all launched with the goal of creating a more modern retail experience that catered to the rise of direct-to-consumer startups. There was evidence that this model could scale: a more well-established competitor, B8ta had raised $50 million, had grown to roughly 20 stores, and had even earned the stamp of approval from a traditional department store: Macy’s. But three years later, not all of these startups have stuck around.
Vitruvi rebranded last month with new packaging centered on helping consumers better understand scent profiles in store. Now, Vitruvi's plans to center customer acquisition in store: the brand is inking new retailer partnership deals and launching new products to appeal to a broader array of retailers.
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