🛍 DTC Daily - Tuesday, Apr 4

👚 Lizzo's Yitty line to launch gender-affirming wear

📰 TL;DR - Lizzo is expanding her DTC shapewear collection, Yitty, to include gender-affirming gear. The brand, a partnership with Fabletics, announced the new line ahead of the Transgender Day of Visibility and said the new products are coming this summer. The announcement generated a ton of organic chatter on social media praising Lizzo for her approach to inclusivity.

💡 Insight - The Yitty collection is a great example of translating values to product. Lizzo has been a body-positivity icon and adding gender-affirming wear speaks to those values. As well, Yitty was launched with sizing up to 6X — most other "inclusive" apparel brands stop at a 2X or 3X. Of course, it obviously helps that the face of Yitty is a bonafide celebrity.

➡️You can read the article here...

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📦 Why brands are charging return fees

📰 TL;DR - In addition to being logistically annoying, returned orders can be very expensive. In addition to the refund, you have to process the package, check for damage, restock, save the customer relationship... it's a lot. That's why many brands are implementing return fees. For example, Abercrombie & Fitch charges a $7 return fee and L.L. Bean charges $6.50.

💡 Insight - Handling returns is tricky. As this article points out, customers have become familiar with marketplaces like Amazon that have return policies very much in the favor of the customer. For smaller brands, however, free returns are much more punishing. Charging a fee is a very straightforward way to make returns feasible, though you'd want to make sure you're very upfront about what those fees are.

➡️You can read the article here...

🔮 Is the future of DTC really so bleak?

📰 TL;DR - Skimming headlines, it may seem like DTC is in a bad place. Many brands are moving to wholesale, scaling back on DTC, or otherwise exploring other channels. But on the other hand, many brands, like Canada Goose, are going hard on DTC and counting on its success as a major pillar of their growth strategy. This article digs into the current state of DTC and what the future holds.

💡 Insight - "DTC is dying!" is a sexy headline, but it's not the whole truth. I like this piece because it takes a more nuanced look at the situation. In a nutshell, DTC still makes a lot of sense for new brands but as brands mature, their priorities might change. It's not that DTC is failing, or wholesale is winning, it's that now that we're post-pandemic consumer habits are changing and it just makes sense (for some brands) to diversify.

➡️You can read the article here...

❄️ Why frozen foods are putting the freeze on DTC

📰 TL;DR - Food and beverages have been a very strong sector in the DTC world, but for some brands, it's time to get out. Frozen food brands like Sweet Nothings smoothies have found DTC to be very pricey, especially when it comes to shipping. Unlike a T-shirt, these goods need dry ice for shipping. Turning to grocery stores eliminates that headache, As Sweet Nothings CEO said, "Toward the end of 2022, we realized [DTC] was becoming more of a burden than it was helpful."

💡 Insight - These are some of the nuances I was talking about above. For the very particular case of frozen foods, retail offers some major advantages. Pivoting to retail is a big decision that may cause an initial drop in sales. Doing it should be based not on trends or headlines, but on your own financial and distribution situation.

➡️You can read the article here...

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