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The DTC weighted blanket brand Bearaby is collaborating with West Elm. The partnership illustrates the millennial-love furniture maker's strategy with smaller brands that complement its selection. More, similar collaborations are likely on the way.
Brooklinen announced a new marketplace called Spaces. It partnered with other DTC brands to sell adjacent but not competitive goods on the bedding company's website. It's indicative of a growing business trend where brands are banding together to try and maintain growth.
Direct-to-consumer brands were born out of the idea that the Procter & Gambles of the world weren't doing a good job anymore of addressing consumer needs. Now some of them want to become the next Procter & Gamble.
New and existing sites are increasingly seeing an opportunity in helping both shoppers and industry members make sense of the growing DTC landscape. The founders of these sites say that because it's easier now than ever before to start a new brand, and many of these brands gain traction through a mix of paid Facebook and Instagram ads, influencer partnerships, and affiliate deals, it's hard for even someone who works in the consumer industry to understand which new mattress or razor is best.
Email addresses have become the currency of choice for direct-to-consumer brands. As a result, many DTC brands offer customers a discount off their first order, if they sign up for the company's email list
Chatbots were all the rage a few years ago, but consumers never took to them. Now, DTC brands are using a mixture of AI and human-based chat technology to better handling customer service.
Food52 just sold a majority stake to The Chernin Group. According to the company, what propelled the deal was the commerce strategy it put in place. Now, with the cash infusion, the home and kitchen site plans to invest even more into both online and physical retail.
Many DTC brands relying on performance marketing use Facebook for customer acquisition. But the DTC company Candid has found that despite it's robust offerings, the platform simply doesn't align with its longterm strategy.
As Facebook and Google ads, the bread-and-butter of many direct-to-consumer brands' customer acquisition efforts, become more expensive, there's also been a rise in companies eager to give money to cash-strapped DTC companies -- for a fee. One of the most prominent of these companies is Clearbanc.
Brandless announced it was pivoting to CBD earlier this summer. Now we get a glimpse at what this looks like, while other companies make similar moves.
There's a growing group of business evangelists online who love to wax philosophic about DTC brands. But it's not only a pocket of Twitter, but a thriving social network of entrepreneurs, VCs and consultants. But does it run the risk of becoming too much of a clique?
As J. Crew's denim-focused brand Madewell prepares to go public, it will be depending upon its loyalty program to fuel customer retention and personalization efforts, which the company thinks is key to driving more direct-to-consumer sales.
As DTC brands grow, they face the issue of copycats encroaching on their space. This is increasingly becoming an issue founders are being forced to reckon with. The latest example is Ro, which noticed that competitor Hims had a UX almost identical to its own.
Harry's was just acquired for over $1 billion. Its mens grooming products are widely available in places like Walmart and Target. Yet, Harry's isn't on Amazon. The brand's co-CEO explained why -- as well as, how it strategizes brand innovation and scale.
Returns are one of the most ubiquitous part of the online shopping process. They are also extremely expensive -- as well as difficult to accurately quantify. For DTCs, returns are one of the large-yet-invisible problems continually hampering the bottom line.
A growing number of health and beauty brands are turning to cloud-based systems that can handle customer, financial and inventory data across all processes, from production to payment.
Payless ShoeSource has come out of its latest bankruptcy proceedings with big plans to relaunch in the U.S. It's provided scant details about what that would look like. But with all of its U.S. locations closed, a large brand and business overhaul will be necessary to keep the retailer alive.
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