Meet the D2C OGs ??

Edition #1: Snapshot of some of the pioneers in the D2C space, and their recipe for success.

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D2C is hot right now! With digital adoption at its peak due to the pandemic, more people are shopping online. New brands are getting launched every week, and VCs are pouring money into the ecosystem like there’s no tomorrow.

Will this D2C frenzy ever end or is it a bubble waiting to burst?

In this edition, we take a look at some of the OG D2C brands that have stood the test of time and have been running successfully all these years. Let’s deep dive into their success recipes and how they were able to create such large businesses.

First in line:

Dollar Shave Club ??

Founded in 2011, Headquartered in California, USA

One of the first D2C brands in the men’s grooming category that dared to challenge the might of Gillette with its affordable $1 razors and convenient delivery service.

Dollar Shave Club now operates as a subscription-based business that delivers grooming products to its customer doorstep. It has an active base of 4 million subscribers boasting over $250 million in annual revenue.

And it all started with this iconic ad that went viral in 2012 ??

Can you believe that they spent just a little over $5K on this video before it blew up and gave them 3M+ views in less than 72 hours! ??

Dollar Shave Club was later acquired by Unilever in 2016 for a whopping $1 billion in cash, making it one of the largest acquisitions in the D2C space.

Next up,

Warby Parker ??

Founded in 2010, Headquartered in New York, USA

There's a lot to love about Warby Parker , the eyewear brand that sells affordable prescription glasses for the masses. It all started when one of its founders lost his glasses on a backpacking trip in China and realized that the cost of replacing them was higher than buying an iPhone! ??

Bottomline: Glasses were expensive. And WP disrupted the category by introducing its $95 pricepoint product. And boy oh boy! It was an instant hit!

And while everyone was competing for eyeballs through paid ads, Warby Parker was one of the few brands that leveraged the power of old-school PR to acquire customers. And some of them were classics! ??

For example, check out this article ??

The mistake that turned Warby Parker into an overnight legend

Warby Parker was last valued at $6 billion after it went public on NYSE in 2021, making it one of the most successful IPOs in the consumer space.

Next in line, we have

Gymshark ???

Founded in 2012, Headquartered in Solihull, UK

Gymshark isn’t one of those typical poster boys of the D2C world. Started by a 19-year-old who sold workout clothes out of his love for fitness, it's now worth a billion dollars! How?

One word: Community!

Gymshark has grown to become a classic case study of how community-driven brands are built. It has set itself apart from its competitors just by being a transparent, honest, and authentic brand (which it also exemplifies in its content & social media) and staying true to it consistently over the years.

No fancy ads, no growth hacks!

Gymshark was last valued at $1.3+ billion and remains one of the top apparel brands to compete with the likes of Nike, Adidas & Puma.

And finally,

Casper ??

Founded in 2014, Headquartered in New York, USA

Who would have thought of selling mattresses online? It’s such a difficult category to crack! Highly commoditized, large overheads, complicated logistics, low purchase frequency, and absolutely no digitization ?? ??

Even today, the average mattress-buying experience is quite cumbersome. You go to the specialized stores, talk to salespeople in super-long queues, get distracted by so many options, and finally decide to take the trial home.

But when Kylie Jenner posted an unboxing video of her Casper mattress on Instagram, it broke the internet. Suddenly everyone was talking about this new?mattress-in-a-box?brand on social. In fact, Casper’s success has been largely fueled by these influencers who post unboxing videos of the mattress and share their experiences.

Today, Casper is a billion-dollar mattress company leading the pack of D2C brands that are trying to disrupt an industry previously dominated by companies selling mattresses out of large warehouses. Moreover, its success has paved the way for other D2C brands to innovate in a fairly competitive and traditional category.

That’s it for now folks!

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Until next time ??