DTC

Battle of the Brands

A rising e-commerce tide lifted all digital natives in 2020. But there were some storefronts that welcomed more virtual visitors than others.

Time for a traffic citation: SimilarWeb, a web analytics service, exclusively shared its rankings of year’s 15 fastest-growing DTC brands by web traffic with Retail Brew. 

• On average, traffic across the 15 brands grew 364% YoY over the period measuring January 9–December 9 in 2019 and 2020. 
• Some brands started 2020 with millions of visitors. So while their average monthly visits were higher, their growth rate landed lower on our scorecard.

On to the rankings...Youth To The People, a brand that fuses superfood skincare with social activism, topped our list. Visits to its online store grew 874% YoY. 

• The second place brand grew just over half as much. Nonda, which specialized in connected car equipment for 2020’s road trippers, grew 480%. 
• Rounding out the top three, lingerie brand Cuup recorded 409% YoY growth. 

Francis Scialabba

Playing scattergories 

I’d expected a list of toilet paper and frozen pizza brands. But “the range of categories across the top 15 DTC brands shows us that not every winner in 2020 was directly related to the pandemic-driven trends,” Jamie Drayton, lead e-commerce consultant at SimilarWeb, told Retail Brew. 

• Apparel and fashion companies occupied one-third of the list: “impressive, given market realities,” Drayton said. Special shoutout to Rowing Blazers, which created a viral marketing moment with an assist from the people’s princess. 
• Still, there’s representation from the 2020est of trends, like procrastibaking (Great Jones) and procrastibiking (Peloton).

The big-picture growth secrets aren’t so secret. Drayton said all 15 companies grew with a mix of 1) organic interest and 2) marketing spend across display ads and paid search. 

Stakes = high. The top 15 managed to capture wallets in a tight market: only 2.6% of all e-commerce sales this year are estimated to come from digitally native brands, eMarketer forecasts. 

That said, many of the brands that won the internet’s visits in 2020 are exploring new distribution channels. 

• Offline, Youth To The People is a top-selling brand at Sephora; Function of Beauty just kicked off a distribution partnership with Target. 
• Online, Nonda cross-merchandises on Amazon—building all-around brand awareness.

EXPERIENCE

Casual Same-Day

When massive retailers reconfigure their stores for online fulfillment, they have square footage and sprawling teams on their side. What happens when smaller brands make the same move?

Strategy, unbuttoned

Untuckit, proprietor of men’s Zoom tops, is fulfilling holiday orders with inventory from its 87 stores until Thursday. Jason Lerman, Untuckit’s director of operations, told Retail Brew the brand always planned to try it—but Covid-19 did what it does (accelerated plans).

• To go live, Lerman said the brand focused on “building out the routing logic, negotiating terms with carriers, and putting together training guides for store employees.”
• Stores are technically still open, so the highest-trafficked locations received extra safety stock. 

Results so far? Lerman said Untuckit has observed “steady” demand for these same-day deliveries—and more importantly during gifting season, lower return rates.

• The brand will continue to fulfill online orders from stores post-holidays, but will look for ways to make the process 1) faster and 2) cost conscious.

Zoom out: Some shoppers considered any orders left up to unreliable delivery too much of a holiday risk. Consumers flocked to curbside pickup for their last-minute gifting over the weekend, Reuters reports.

E-COMM

Nike Shoots a Three-Quarter

In 2017, Nike unveiled a distribution overhaul plan: It would cut its wholesale partners from 30,000 to 40 and renew focus on its owned, digital channels. 

Flash forward to last Friday’s earnings call, and it sounds like the plan’s working. Nike’s results for the period ended Nov. 30 exceeded analysts’ expectations: Profit grew 12% to $1.25 billion. Digital sales rose 84%—the third consecutive quarter of around 80% online growth. 

Trimming partners from the bench wasn’t Nike’s only tactic to enhance online sales. Slow-burn strategies that continued to pay off included... 

• Interactive fitness and shopping content across its app suite.
• New product developments, including extended sizes and yoga skus.

Nike also reported that foot traffic at stores has declined, meaning its digital performance outweighed losses from declining IRL performance. “These are times when strong brands get stronger,” said Nike CEO John Donahoe. 

Zoom out: While Nike's online sales soar, it has also been implicated in recent reports tying several global apparel and footwear brands to forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. Nike refuted the claims.

WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Amazon closed a New Jersey sorting center after a Covid-19 spike among employees.
• Walmart launched a return scheduling program.
• Apple closed all its California stores and some in the U.K. due to rising Covid-19 cases.
• Pattern Beauty is expanding to skin care and international sales channels.
• Fake shipping notices are scamming holiday shoppers.

SPONSORED BY EMARKETER

Unprecedented times call for unprecedented Amazon ads. eMarketer’s analyst report, Amazon Advertising 2020: Pandemic Trends Push the No. 3 US Digital Ad Seller Forward, shares some of the reasons that Amazon’s ad selling has boomed—even in a pandemic—and how advertisers are approaching Amazon this year. Get the full report here. 

HOT TOPIC

At the mall, it’s where I was forbidden to spend my allowance. In Retail Brew, it’s where I invite readers to weigh in on a trending retail topic. 

Last Friday’s appointment TV wasn’t The Mandalorian at my house. It was TikTok’s first shopping livestream, held with Walmart and a cast of ten influencers.

My notes: There were around ~19k viewers watching when I tuned in, about the same audience size I’ve noticed on Instagram and Facebook shopping livestreams. I didn’t buy anything, but the add to cart tools were easily accessible.

Viewers’ responses: Mixed. Real-time comments wondered why the segments were pre-recorded. Twitter users requested in-app checkout or Apple Pay next time. 

Your turn. Vote for how you really felt about TikTok’s first group shopping experience here.

SWAPPING SKUS

Some brands that were industry darlings or customer favorites won’t join us in 2021. Here are a few of the best stories I found to remember the businesses closed by 2020. 

• Cushnie was one of the few luxury fashion brands founded and led by a Black woman. Support for Carly Cushnie's vision and perspective came too late. (Vogue)
• “Each [restaurant] closing takes with it more than just the food and the space itself. Tied up in restaurants are memories, relationships, and livelihoods.” (Eater)
• Topshop was the first place legions of millennial shoppers discovered capital F fashion, or a distilled version of it. Now it’s hanging by a thread in administration. (Refinery29)

ICYMI

Catch up on the Retail Brew stories you may have missed.

• TikTok and Google Reveal New Product Exploration Experiences Ahead of the Holidays
• At Retail Ecommerce Ventures, ‘Brands Don’t Die’
• Sweetgreen Will Open Its First Drive-Thru Restaurant Next Year