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  • 🛍 DTC Daily - Thursday, Feb 9

🛍 DTC Daily - Thursday, Feb 9

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

🥾 1 - The ridiculous, giant red boots all over social media

📰 TL;DR - The strangest and perhaps ugliest boots I've ever seen are all over social media — and they're not even for sale yet. MSCHF's "Big Red Boot" is a pair of cartoonishly oversized boots that look like they should be worn by Astro Boy and no one else. Yet, they're already listed on resale sites for $1,000, despite retailing for $350 and not even being available until Feb. 16.

💡 Insight - This is just some brilliant marketing. Novelty fashion has certainly gone viral before, like platform Crocs or absurdly long jeans. It's not even the first viral offering from MSCHF, which blends art with fashion. Their niche is to make fun of trends, which in turn becomes a trend. It's a case study of how to win organic press coverage.

🥨 2 - From bootstrapped to 9,000+ retailers

📰 TL;DR - The latest episode of the podcast Brave Commerce talks to Denise Woodard, founder of PartakeFoods. Denise got her start at a local small business competition after wanting to create allergy-sensitive snacks for her kid. Fast forward and she's now in thousands of retail locations.

💡 Insight - I always think hearing other founders' stories is the best inspiration for e-comm folks. Denise in particular has a lot of insight into building relationships with retail partners and using data to optimize your business. She also has a lot to say about diverse hiring. It's 19 minutes that are worth your time.

🕹 3 - Creating the retail experience in the virtual world

📰 TL;DR - Alo Yoga has opened a retail experience, but instead of bricks and mortar, it's 100% virtual. The simulated shop works on mobile and desktop, but also in VR like on an Oculus. It includes products, tutorials, workouts, and styling services. You can shop from right within the store by clicking on items on display.

💡 Insight - I checked the shop out on desktop and honestly, it's pretty cool, and also smart to make it available on desktop and mobile. The full VR experience would definitely be more immersive, but not everyone has a headset. There's a lot of talk about opening retail experiences, and this is certainly a more cost-effective and novel option that a physical location. Check it out here.

🍸 4 - Is the DTC alcohol boom dead?

📰 TL;DR - Direct-to-consumer alcohol sales spiked during the pandemic as people turned to e-commerce for items they would have once picked up IRL. This episode of the VinePair podcast examines why those sales are now falling as people turn to pre-pandemic habits.

💡 Insight - An interesting insight in this episode is that it's not hard to find alcohol. There's not really a compelling reason to buy the usual brands online when there's inevitably a liquor store nearby. What it does suggest is that more specialty items, like hard-to-find wine or small-batch breweries, will have more success with DTC.

📊 5 - Why omnichannel e-commerce works

📰 TL;DR - Over on the WooCommerce blog, we have a compelling case for why omnichannel selling is the way to go, even if you're not ready or interested in a brick-and-mortar location. They cite a stat that 73$ of customers use multiple channels along their purchase journey and it just makes sense to meet them where they are. 

💡 Insight - With so many places you can sell these days, it really doesn't make sense to confine your business to a single channel. Your e-commerce site can work alongside marketplaces, social selling, or apps. The trick isn't knowing that, it's figuring out how to keep your brand, service, and customer experience consistent across all those channels.

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