🔮 The future of DTC?

Author

Kyle Tully
January 03, 2024

Welcome to Morning Commerce, 2024 style.

Kyle here and I’m slowly getting back into some sort of work routine. Today I checked my emails. Tomorrow I might reply to a few!

Here’s what made my reading list for the first week of the new year:

  • Shipping priorities of online consumers

  • What does the future hold for DTC retailers?

  • An inspo site that did $4.5 million in year one

  • 5 content marketing ideas for February 2024

  • Growing cyber weekend sales 70% from ‘22 to ‘23

— Kyle Tully

ACQUISITION

5 content marketing ideas for February 2024

If you’re looking to get a head start on your content marketing calendar for 2024 then Practical Ecommerce has some good ideas for Feb based on upcoming holidays and events:

  1. National Pizza Day, February 9.

  2. World Marriage Day, the second Sunday in February.

  3. International Darwin Day, February 12.

  4. National Drink Wine Day, February 18.

  5. Leap Year Day, February 29.

Want more ideas like this every month?

I use a handy Google Calendar called “Holidays and Email Marketing” with lots of unique and creative holidays you can build campaigns around.

CONVERSION

Shipping priorities of online consumers

Free delivery and easy return shipping continue to dominate consumer preferences when it comes to ecommerce shipping priorities, with 89% and 65% of 6000 respondents respectively stating each as the most important shipping factor.

Breaking the data out by gender, females valued free delivery and easy returns more than males. While men rated next-day and same-day delivery as higher priorities than women.

All other preferences were rated almost exactly equal between genders.

Growing cyber weekend sales 70% from ‘22 to ‘23

Simply Gum sells “better-for-you” gum in over 14,000 retail locations, including Whole Foods, Target, and CVS. Around 20% of their revenue comes from online, split 80/20 between Amazon and Shopify.

This year they grew online 47%, and cyber weekend 70%, by focusing on a few simple strategies:

  • Introducing new products online before launching in stores.

  • Experimenting with flavours and collecting customer feedback quickly.

  • Selling variety packs online that are not available in stores.

DTC

What does the future hold for DTC retailers?

Notwithstanding the fact that lumping all DTC retailers into a single category is kinda silly, there are broad economic and environmental factors that will effect almost everyone selling online.

Cheap online advertising and free pandemic money for everyone led to the golden years of DTC. But with soaring online ad rates (set to be made worse by the upcoming US elections), high inflation, a tight monetary landscape, and increased competition, things have certainly changed.

Brands that fail to recognise and adapt to this changing landscape will struggle and eventually fail.

INSPO OF THE WEEK

Create has taken one of the oldest and most well-researched sports supplements — creatine — and repackaged it from a boring flavourless white powder into a trendy blue raspberry gummie… to the tune of $4.5 million in sales their first year. Their website ticks all the boxes you’d expect, but it’s the concept of repackaging that you should be paying attention to.

How we can help…

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