🛍 DTC Daily - Monday, Feb 6

Today's DTC news, tips, & tools you need to know

👑 1 - This Etsy seller was blessed by Queen Bey

📰 TL;DR - Products go viral for all kinds of reasons, but going viral because Beyoncé herself wore your product is a special kind of win. Abby Misbin, a 24-year-old Etsy seller, is the designer behind the mirrored cowboy hat Beyoncé wore in her Renaissance tour promo pics. The hat sold out within two hours and she's now trying to restock as people clamor to get one of their own.

💡 Insight - I truly wish I had advice on how to get Beyoncé to pose with your products, but alas, it's like winning the lottery. However, there is something to be said about preparation. If you went viral tomorrow, do you have a way to respond to a sudden spike in demand? You know, just in case.

🐶 2 - The "human dog bed" going viral on TikTok

📰 TL;DR - Here's a great story about how a couple of university students created a product that has now generated over $1 million. It's called a Plufl and it's basically a dog bed made for humans to take very cozy naps. They started on Kickstarter and have mainly found success through smart marketing on social media.

💡 Insight - I'd really encourage you to take a look at Plufl's TikTok. They're not pulling in huge numbers but they are posting high-quality, consistent content that ties into trending sounds and memes on the app. And sometimes those efforts pay off with videos that gain tens of thousands of views, inevitably leading to sales. They even have a TikTok-specific discount code that helps them track buyers coming from the app.

🍳 3 - Our Place opens retail store in LA

📰 TL;DR - Our Place, makers of the very trendy Always pan, have opened a new retail store in LA. The brand always planned to go into retail after starting in e-commerce and they join other DTC brands that have pushed into IRL spaces, like Glossier. Interestingly, this piece also notes that LA has become a very popular place for DTC brands to launch physical locations.

💡 Insight - Opening a retail location isn't just about having another place to sell. Our Place has created an experience, with a cafe selling boba and lattes and plans for events. It's an exercise in branding and customer acquisition. If you opened a retail location, how could you make it a destination, not just a store?

📦4 - Excess inventory creates a pricey problem

📰 TL;DR - A new survey found that 50% of retailers have excess inventory sitting around after the holidays, even after January discounts. Granted, the survey comes from an e-commerce inventory software provider, but having inventory sitting around is definitely a problem. In fact, 58% of businesses surveyed feared they'd have to simply liquidate the excess.

💡 Insight - Excess stock after the holidays can be a recurring issue, especially with January being known for extra returns. Solving the issue takes some creative solutions, like adjusting cost structures and continuing promos and discounts past the traditional period at the start of the year. Also: if you have chronic stock issues, you need to reexamine how you're tracking, ordering, and evaluating your stock.

🕯 5 - Scaling from crafter to master

📰 TL;DR - Over on the Shopify Masters podcast there's an interview with Kristen Pumphrey, the woman behind P.F. Candle Co., a California-based candle company. It started on Etsy with Kristen hand-making every single candle. In the episode, they dive into how Kristen has retained her identity as a crafter even as her business has scaled.

💡 Insight - There are many reasons why people get into e-commerce, and one of them is taking a craft or artistic discipline they love and building a business around it. When you do that, though, it's very easy to lose sight of what you loved about that art in the first place. Give this a listen if you need a little creative inspiration to find that passion again.

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