Isn’t it time for DTC brands to change gears?

The greater customer intimacy seems to provide them with a huge competitive advantage over traditional retailers and sometimes have helped them to disrupt a market. While some DTC retailers have also started to sell their products
in brick-and-mortar stores (for instance, pop-up stores and partnerships with traditional retail stores), most of these Brands essentially sell online, abandon high-end packaging, traditional advertising and other expensive pull marketing activities.

This business model has enabled DTC brands to provide Quality products at oftentimes significantly lower prices than traditional brands. And being directly in touch with consumers has allowed them to not only reimagine products and services but also to provide outstanding and highly relevant customer experience, knowing exactly what their customers strive for, when and how.

DTC is a Retail Revolution
Established brands are suddenly finding their (often homogenous) markets being shaken up by highly competitive newcomers. In France, for example, fashion retailers are seeing the rise of names like Asphalte or Sézane. Other more global examples are Casper (mattresses, who just filed for their IPO), Glossier (cosmetics) and Dollar Shave Club (razors and other grooming products, bought by Unilever $1B!) or Billie, bought recently by P&G. In Germany similar brands challenge their markets. Bodyguard is shaking the German mattresses market, while Flaconi and dergepflegteMann.de have popped up on the market for premium cosmetics for women and men. All these DTC Brands have tried to disrupt their markets by providing their customers with a unique, good enough and attractive offering: products at
comparably low prices, often with a superior customer experience (e. g. free delivery).