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  • 🛍 DTC Daily - Monday, Mar 13

🛍 DTC Daily - Monday, Mar 13

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

🪦 How Silicon Valley Bank's death will impact e-comm

📰 TL;DR - Some players in the e-commerce space are bracing for impact after the much-discussed demise of Silicon Valley Bank. Even if you don't bank directly with SVB, the concern is the ripple effect — some of the services you rely on may be impacted, which in turn impacts you. Toy store startup Camp says it has been affected and is even running a special sale to try and shore up funds amid the fallout.

💡 Insight - This article points out that e-comm startups may not be in as much trouble as say SaaS companies, which may have more money in play. The most notable issue to worry about is payment processing, though it's not yet clear how much this will impact Shopify merchants, for example. If you sell on Etsy, you'll definitely want to read the next item. Overall, the fallout is still in process, so here's hoping you miss the worst of it.

🧶 Etsy payments delayed by SVB shutdown

📰 TL;DR - An early casualty of the SVB situation is Etsy sellers. The marketplace announced that payments to sellers had been delayed because of the collapse. In an update, Etsy said they were working "around the clock" to get funds out via other payment partners within the next few business days. It remains unclear exactly how many sellers are affected. Those impacted right now seem to be those who scheduled a deposit for Friday, and it remains to be seen whether future deposit dates will be impacted.

💡 Insight - I really feel for the Etsy sellers feeling the impact of this. Many people on the platform are small businesses or crafters who really rely on those regular deposits to pay the bills and reinvest in their businesses. The Verge spoke to one seller awaiting payment for over 100 orders — not chump change. Others have complained that Etsy has not communicated the impact well enough. And, unfortunately, there's not much you can do other than wait.

📉 These e-comm darlings are at risk of bankruptcy

📰 TL;DR - Last downer of a story before we move on, promise! Retail Dive has a roundup of the big names in e-commerce that are at risk of bankruptcy. What they have in common is that they were supposed to change the face of commerce and now they're looking at a whole lot of trouble. The list includes Wayfair, The RealReal, Redbubble, Farfetch, and Boxed. The analysis uses FRISK scores, which don't guarantee anything, but it certainly shows a trend.

💡 Insight - I like that Retail Dive noted that the issues plaguing these companies aren't all about the pre/post-pandemic swing. Many of the brands on the list aren't selling a differentiated product, rather they're selling many brands. Therefore their challenge is more about attractive pricing and customer acquisition costs. They can't build the sort of brand loyalty that, say, a DTC company like Magic Spoon can. The takeaway here that having a unique product will help you survive these uncertain times for e-commerce.

💰 From side hustle to $1.9 million

📰 TL;DR - Business Insider has a nice piece on Ashley Bostwick, owner of Wander and Lust Jewelry. She founded it in 2014 as a side hustle and has since made a cool $1.9 million in sales. She got started with just $300 and an idea and managed to make $20,000 in the first year. The big change came in 2018 when she started really paying attention to market trends and identifying products that would help her stick out in a saturated market, then again the following year when she added personalization.

💡 Insight - First, I love an example that shows you can indeed stick to Etsy as your primary destination and be successful. Second, I like how this tracks all the smart moves Ashley made along the way. For example, she simply added a card about how moonstones are a symbol of motherhood and was able to remarket an existing product as a gift for new moms. Smart! Etsy is definitely its own beast when it comes to trends, especially as it's such a destination for gifting, and this is great insight in how to make that work.

🧴 Bushbalm is coming to Ulta

📰 TL;DR - Now for something practical. Hubspot has a list of examples of CTAs from a variety of brands. While not all the examples are from e-comm, a couple are, such as Kate Spade and FitBit. But e-comm or not, CTAs are tricky — you need to entice the buyer without hitting them over the head with a sell. This shows a good range, including some that are more to the point, and some a little more creative.

💡 Insight - I actually think it's really valuable to examine marketing from brands that aren't e-comm. At the end of the day, you're both selling a product, and finding a clever way to do it. The Upwork example, for example, can definitely be applied to e-comm with a similar motivating message and a "buy now" button in addition to a "browse the category" type button. Go get inspired!

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