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After pausing physical expansion during the height of the pandemic, piercing studio startup Studs is plotting a rapid expansion throughout 2022. In the past few weeks, Studs opened two new shops, bringing its total to 11 locations across the country. Five of Studs’ current stores opened during the first four months of the year. As it expands its footprint, Studs is trying to strike a balance between shops in high-trafficked shopping hubs and residential neighborhoods.
These days, many brands start out online, where they have control over their merchandising and displays. However, once they start selling through retail partners, they face more challenges such as competing for shelf space and high-traffic aisles. This is why blender brand BlendJet is creating its own store fixtures to cultivate a store-within-store feel.
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.
For many direct-to-consumer brands, entering physical retail has become a standard growth strategy. At this week's Modern Retail DTC Summit, Fly by Jing founder Jing Gao highlighted the opportunity and challenges of selling through national retailers.
Fast growth comes with added obstacles, as many direct-to-consumer brands have shown over the years. Growing a digitally-native brand, both online and through wholesale partnerships, requires "failing fast and moving quickly," said luggage brand Béis' president Adeela Hussain Johnson.
After relying on digital sales for a couple of years, DTC brands are back to investing in physical retail. At this year's Modern Retail DTC Summit, Brooklinen's vp of retail explains how the bedding and homeware brand is going about its store expansion.
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.
Over the next two years, the direct-to-consumer furniture and lifestyle brand will open 10 new stores. Burrow opened its first store in Soho back in 2018 and has used it as a testing ground to understand what customers look for in physical stores. About four years later, Burrow is ready to apply those findings to its new physical footprints.
With the increasing need to enter new channels, like wholesale and physical retail, more direct-to-consumer founders are bringing on experienced executives to take charge of operations. This month DTC brand Brunt Workwear named a new president less than two years after launching.
QR codes have become pervasive in the past two years, with consumers seeing them everywhere from restaurant tables to TV ads. Some brands, like Haven's Kitchen, are trying to use the tech's popularity to draw store shoppers to their websites.
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.
Retention is often cited as an important tactic for online retailers trying to keep customers, which have become expensive to acquire. But defining retention and planning around that definition is another story. For some brands, that means executing a second purchase within months of the first. For others, it's more about being a go-to brand the next time a customer is considering shopping their respective product.
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.
The number of companies going public via SPAC hit a fever pitch last year, but a number of companies that went public via SPAC proceeded to underperform following their debut. Under newly proposed rules, the SEC hopes to address some common concerns such as inflated future outlooks and conflicts of interests.
Earlier this month, resale platform Rebelstork – which buys back and sells refurbished baby gear – launched in the U.S. The Canadian startup, founded in 2019, is positioning itself as a white-glove and sustainable shopping service for parents. As resale continues to become more popular, more companies like Rebelstork are trying to corner the secondhand market in niche product categories.
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