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- DTC 📦 ➔ Retail 🛍 ➔ $2 Billion Dollar Exit? 💰
DTC 📦 ➔ Retail 🛍 ➔ $2 Billion Dollar Exit? 💰
Foot Traffic 👣 + Paid Traffic 📈 = The Ultimate Traffic Diversification?
Our favorite Direct Response Soap Brand Dr Squatch is in talks to sell to private equity for $2 Billion Dollars:
Not bad for a scrappy brand that first started to scale with fun Direct Response ads like these on YouTube:
DTC to Retail = the ultimate traffic diversification?
Dr Squatch launched and hit serious scale with Direct Response ads.
…Which not only drove direct ecommerce sales but ALSO gave them the brand recognition and proof-of-concept to test another completely different type of traffic:
👣 Foot Traffic i.e. RETAIL 🛍️.
And “foot traffic” has been a massive success.
Dr Squatch has been selling in retail locations across the USA for quite a while now:
(^ I saw this Dr Squatch display the other day at a local grocery store)
And of course this doesn’t stop Dr Squatch from still spending a significant amount on Direct Response ads:
~ update from our friends at Funnel of the Week ~
Just in case you missed this from last week…
Health VSL Analysis: Glucotrust
The key to mega volume affiliate offers is this:
A high-performing video salesletter (VSL).
Funnel of the Week did an interview with former SixPackShortcuts CMO Johnson Li, breaking down one of the best performing affiliate offers in the past couple years, blood sugar offer Glucotrust.
Go here to check it out:
Read the full VSL breakdown here in this Funnel of the Week blog post.
DTC to Retail: A well-worn path
This DTC-to-retail pathway has been paved by countless brands, because at a certain scale of DTC / Direct Response, it just makes sense:
Retail: The “In-Person” Retargeting Funnel
Strong DTC ads not only drive immediate sales but also enhance brand recognition. This ensures that when viewers eventually see your in-store display, they’re already primed to buy.
Think of retail as “in-person retargeting.”
Here are just a few DTC to Retail success stories…
Warby Parker
Initial Model: Direct-to-consumer (DTC) online eyewear sales.
Retail Expansion: Opened physical stores.
Growth Metrics: By the end of 2021, Warby Parker had over 145 retail locations and achieved a valuation of $6.8 billion at its IPO.
(See all of Warby Parker’s YouTube ads & landing pages here)
Glossier
Initial Model: DTC beauty and skincare products.
Retail Expansion: Opened permanent stores and pop-up shops.
Growth Metrics: Raised $80 million in Series E funding in 2021, valuing the company at $1.8 billion.
( See all of Glossier’s YouTube ads & landing pages here inside VidTao.)
Bark Box (now “Bark”)
Subscription pet company Bark Box got started selling subscription boxes, which they still do, very well:
But the brand was so successful among pet owners, it led to the creation of Bark, a line of products that’s now available in retail stores like Target:
And of course they’re still running DTC ads:
(Go here to see all of Bark Box’s YT ads & landers)
Dollar Shave Club
And of course we all probably remember Dollar Shave Club’s viral ads:
These low-budget but massively viral Dollar Shave Club YouTube ads were so successful…
…That in 2016, 121 billion dollar conglomerate Unilever bought the company for over $1 billion USD.
Since then, Unilever used their in-store distribution to roll out Dollar Shave in big stores nationwide.
Fast forward to 2023, and Unilever sold it to another private equity firm Nexus Capital Management for an undisclosed amount.
(Speculation has it that Unilever saw fit to off-load some peripheral brands after an overall revenue drop in 2023 (see below))
Here’s what Nexus Capital Management said after the purchase:
It’s clear Nexus is going to be focusing on DTC to kick-start Dollar Shave’s new era.
And not surprisingly, Dollar Shave Club doubled their testing volume (# of ads tested) since being purchased😀
(check out the testing volume data inside VidTao here)
Direct Response YouTube Ads Brainstorm Session (free)
Want help scaling your Direct Response offer/product on YouTube, Connected TV and other Direct Response Video Ad Platforms?
Schedule a FREE Brainstorm Call with Inceptly, the team behind $950M in Direct Response revenue here:
👉👉 https://inceptly.com/call
DTC to Retail: Is there a “Formula” You Can Use?
So if you’re seeing success with DTC / Direct Response but not yet running in retail, maybe you’re wondering…
Is there a “formula” I can use to create & launch products that scale on Direct Response ads / DTC…
…That sets me up to tap into the massive scale of retail?
This week we’ll be diving into one entrepreneur’s unique approach to adding Retail Traffic to DTC offers.
He has mastered the art of:
creating or identifying a worthy product…
Using Direct Response video ads to launch and test it to cold audiences…
Based on initial data, either ❌ kill it fast or 🚀 scale it to the moon with Direct Response Video…
And then when that campaign reaches critical mass?
Adding 🛍️ RETAIL to the mix, where things really take off.
Go ahead and read part 1 of the story here: https://blog.vidtao.com/the-20000-gamble-how-a-broke-college-kids-ad-launched-a-100m-year-direct-response-empire-part-1/
And stay tuned for part 2 later this week…
…Where we’ll be getting into his formula for identifying, testing and scaling products via DTC, and then transitioning that into a DTC + Retail powerhouse.
Have a great week!
The VidTao Team
PS - Go here to claim a Free Trial of the all-new VidTao 2.0 YouTube ad library (complete with 10 million+ unlisted YouTube ads & their landing pages)
PPS - Are you spending $1k/day+ on Paid Ads? 👉 Go here to set up a free YouTube Ad brainstorm chat.