Demystifying direct-to-consumer brands
While early drivers of growth supported the meteoric rise of new-age, Internet-first companies, margin compression and a funding drought have led to their swift downfall
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THE world’s love affair with direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands first began little over a decade ago.
As real estate costs in physical retail grew increasingly out of reach, new upstarts turned to social media marketing as a place of refuge. The pioneers of DTC brands include Warby Parker, Glossier and Away.
The strategy was sheer ingenuity. Not only were online real estate and consequent customer acquisition costs (CAC) a fraction of offline costs, online advertising also unlocked a fertile catchment of engaged and data-enriched audience that up till then, could not be targeted anytime, anywhere.
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