How to Navigate the Dtc to Retail Transition

Are you a DTC brand expanding into physical retail or thinking about it? Read this first. I've seen it happen far too often... A thriving DTC brand lands a major retail deal - Target, Walmart, Whole Foods - and it's celebration time. They've finally "made it" into brick-and-mortar! Fast forward six months... Crisis mode, drowning in excess inventory shipped back from the retailer. Cash flow is strangled. And good luck getting back on those shelves any time soon. The dirty little retail secret: Getting on the shelf is only half the battle. If your product doesn't move (and fast), you're looking at a potential business-killing scenario that even the most successful DTC brands can't easily recover from. Why? Retail expansion comes with a unique set of financial pressures: - You've likely produced massive inventory upfront - The retailer probably hasn't even paid you yet (hello, 60-90+ day terms) - And if your sell-through numbers disappoint, all that inventory shows back up on your doorstep. That's not a business speed bump - that's an existential cash flow crisis for an otherwise healthy company. As more ecommerce brands hit diminishing returns and growth decelerates through exclusively digital channels (just look at your Meta CPMs lately), retail expansion can make a lot of sense. But as Drew and I discussed recently, the brands succeeding in retail aren't just showing up - they're actively creating demand and pull-through. Think about it: Target doesn't care if your TikTok game is on point. Whole Foods doesn't give a damn about your email open rates. They care about one thing: Is your product flying off their shelves? We recently partnered with Four Sigmatic to see if they could drive a increased velocity through Whole Foods. Rather than hoping their existing digital promotions would drive in-store sales, Four Sigmatic used our ShopDrops™ capability to target high-propensity buyers who live near specific retail locations. The results were eye-opening: A 101% lift in velocity vs 57% in their control stores. What made this approach different? Precision. Unlike billboards or TV, ShopDrops enables you to get your offer directly into the hands of only precisely targeted prospects: - Organic food shoppers who buy coffee products at premium grocery stores - Shops regularly at your retail partner and lives in close proximity to a specific location - Matches the exact profile of your highest-value customers Retailers love seeing brands actively support them with targeted marketing. When a buyer meeting includes data showing how you're driving foot traffic to their locations, you're not just another vendor - you're a strategic partner. In fact, showing your retail support strategy can often be the difference-maker in landing that distribution deal in the first place. The stakes are too high to risk getting delisted. Your entire growth strategy and cash position could depend on those first crucial months of retail performance.

shifting how we viewed digital took chubbies from an 8-figure, negative-profit ecommerce store to a 9-figure, profitable omnichannel brand as a digital-first brand believing DTC was the future, this was a tectonic shift we wish we realized it sooner...would have saved many a sleepless night so you don’t make the same mistakes we did, here’s 1) the mistakes 2) 3 lessons 3) 3 actions you can take today let's do it *the mistakes* at chubbies we built our ecommerce business to 8 figures of revenue before we really understood the role of digital for consumer brands for the first few years, we were fully bought into the ecommerce revolution we thought the role of digital was to offer a convenient place to purchase items you love without the hassle of going to a retail store we thought online retailers were competitors we wanted to own the transaction for brand control and support our ability to measure LTV: CAC since DR, discounts, ROAS and revenue mattered most at the time then we almost went out of business *3 lessons* 1) digital is not for transactions, it's for connections as we deconstructed our business to find scalable profitable growth, we realized the internet’s true value to brands it was not just a vehicle for transactions the value of the internet to consumer brands was that the internet had become the house of brand the internet became where consumers connect with brands across social networks, mailing lists, websites, etc the internet was the place consumers share their thoughts and emotions towards brands freely and openly in a way that billions of people could consume the internet was where consumers learned about their favorite brands, diving into the story and purpose our realization was that this basket of digital behaviors towards our brand was our brand 2) the best way to see the impact of brand was by being omnichannel truth be told, we couldn't make brand work the way we needed it to when DTC only only later did we learn that the measurable impact of "brand marketing" was far higher when we started to be available more broadly in retail compared to being DTC only ...but we had to get into retail (and show up the way we wanted) to make this possible 3) leaning into number 1 ALSO generated the retail demand that made number 2 possible (something we didn't fully realize the value of at the time) *3 actions you can take today* 1) take a hard look at the assumptions driving your view of digital DTC are they still correct? do they need to be reassessed? given where you are as a brand, what's the right strategic view for YOU 2) if the connection vs transaction view resonates, vet your internal capabilities to see if they match what's needed to build those connections put simply, do you have an internal content machine? 3) broaden the definition of 'customer' add the retail buyer into your filter when thinking about how to maximize desire for your brand hope this helps 

A post about retail expansion that I wish I'd read 2 years ago... In 2024, we learned that just because a major buyer wants your entire product line doesn't mean you should give it to them. Sounds counterintuitive, right? Let me explain... When we first launched in Walmart in 2023, we were giddy. Major retailer wants all our SKUs? Hell yes! Let's go! But here's the painful lesson we learned: DTC success ≠ Retail success. You can’t just copy/paste your digital catalog onto physical shelves and expect things to work. In DTC, you've got a forgiving testing ground. You can build and control the user experience. Your customers know you. You can educate them with PDP’s and email campaigns. You can craft the relationship over time. Retail? You get one shot at that shelf impression. If a customer doesn't immediately get what your product does and why they need it, game over. So in 2024, we had to get strategic. Really strategic. We studied our velocity data. Identified why certain SKUs were moving faster than others. Made changes to the callouts and info hierarchy on our packaging.  Adjusted price points. Now some of our previous slow-movers became top performers. But I think the bigger lesson was about strategic restraint. Now when retailers approach us, we actually guide them away from certain products. We'll straight up say "This SKU won't work for your customer base." Short term, we might lose some revenue because the stocking PO will be smaller.  But retail growth is about the long term. So we want to build reorder velocity that compounds... We also learned that different retail channels need different approaches: • What works in drug stores might fail in grocery • What flies in FDM might bomb in club stores • What succeeds in DTC might never work in retail This knowledge now influences everything - from product development to packaging design to price architecture. For the DTC brands eyeing retail expansion - start thinking about these channels now, even if you're years away. It'll change how you build.

👀 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗧𝗖 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿. 𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘂𝘁𝘆 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘂𝗽. There was a time when going direct-to-consumer felt like the golden ticket: No middlemen. Bigger margins. Total control. But in 2025? DTC-only won’t get you to profitability. It might not even get you to break even. Why? 📉 CAC is up. 📉 ROAS is down. 📉 Organic reach isn’t organic anymore. And meanwhile… 📈 Retail is delivering reach, volume, trust, and profitability — at scale. But let’s be clear: You don’t need to abandon DTC. But you can’t rely on it as your core growth engine. Especially if you’re bootstrapped! Because you’re not building a brand, you’re simply burning budget. ❗️𝙏𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙢𝙖𝙧𝙩𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝙗𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙙𝙨 𝙩𝙤𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙖𝙧𝙚 𝙖𝙗𝙨𝙤𝙡𝙪𝙩𝙚 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙞𝙣 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙡 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙚𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙥𝙝𝙮. 🔺 DTC for storytelling and insight. 🔺 Retail for scale and profitability. 🔺 Social for community and discovery. This is the new reality: ❗ 𝙍𝙚𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙡 𝙞𝙨 𝙣𝙤 𝙡𝙤𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙡. 𝙄𝙩’𝙨 𝙖 𝙣𝙚𝙘𝙚𝙨𝙨𝙞𝙩𝙮 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙗𝙡𝙚 𝙜𝙧𝙤𝙬𝙩𝙝. Think about it: 🌀REFY continues to achieve viral success on social, and is on track to $130M in sales by 2026 with a projected 55% of sales coming from wholesalers like Sephora. Their profit margins? A steady 37%. 🌀Gisou by Negin Mirsalehi was on track to 2,000 offline distribution points in 2024 while looking at a projected $75M in revenue. 🌀And even Glossier, Inc., the poster child for DTC, rebooted through retail — and it’s working. Their Sephora deal was responsible for more than $100M in retail sales alone in 2023, TikTok views for #Glossier surged from one billion to 3 billion and allowed the company to finally turn a profit. ❗️Now what does this mean for your strategy? 🪐 Don’t build DTC-only. Build DTC-smart. 🪐 Design your packaging like it’ll live on shelf. 🪐 Treat retail like a brand moment, not just a distribution deal. 🪐 Use DTC to test, validate, and build leverage for retail negotiations. Thoughts? Drop them below. 😍 #BeautyMarketing #RetailStrategy #OmnichannelGrowth #BrandBuilding #DTC #BeautyIndustry #BeautyTrends2025 #Growth #GrowthStrategy #DigitalStrategy #BrandStrategy #GrowthStrategy #MarketingStrategy

I’m headed down to visit Walmart’s headquarters in Arkansas this week. In honor of that, I want to share what we’ve learned about selling into mass retail so far. Because most of us in DTC don't have the background or experience to do it right out of the gate. Retail can be a major unlock for DTC brands. But it's a completely different beast than eCom. Obvi has learned some hard lessons by selling into Walmart, Sprouts, and GNC that we want to share with ambitious founders looking to take the retail plunge. Because in today’s DTC world →  - Costs have gone up - Competition has matured - Brands are realizing DTC is just a sales channel A lot of founders are able to make DTC-only work, but if your brand is growing and you want to keep your foot on the gas you’ll have to consider dipping your toes into retail at SOME point. With that in mind, here’s a quick retail masterclass for you - 1. Before you take the first step -  - Does your brand have the required level of maturity and status to make this leap?   - Can your finances handle 60-90 day payment terms?  - Can your supply chain support the volume? 2. What to focus on: There are 3 main priorities when you do make it into retail: → Pricing and channel plans → Packaging and merchandising → Trade spend Your channel plan for retail = SKUs, prices, and seasonal/inventory cycle per retailer.  → Packaging and merchandising In retail you need clear, accessible callouts about what your product is, what it does, and what’s in the box. You have a few seconds to catch their eye. And few more seconds to make your pitch.  → Trade spend You could have the best packaging in the world, but it won’t matter if your product is stuffed away in the back corner of the store. 3. Retail KPI’s: Everyone knows it - If you can’t measure, you can’t improve. And something that comes with retail expansion is an entirely new set of KPI’s you’ll have to manage.  Here are the metrics we currently track: → Revenue Week-Over-Week (is your revenue growing?) → Units Per Store Per Week (are you selling enough units?) → Store Sell-Through Rates (which stores are performing?) → Store Compliance Audit (are products being placed in the right spots?) → Category Performance (performance compared to the broader market?) Takeaway here - Sliding your brand into retail is no joke. And it isn’t for everyone. It really needs to be at the right time. There are: 1. Internal and external brand factors to consider 2. Important needle movers to focus on that will affect performance in-store 3. How to measure your product's performance If you think your brand is up for the challenge… go read our Obvi Guide for Breaking Into Retail over at Chewonthis DTC for even more detail on what we’ve learned.