Welcome to The Week in Direct-to-Consumer, a weekly round-up from Quad Insights that sums up the latest news you need to know surrounding DTC brand- building and the changemakers leading the charge.
Distillers in New York State make their case for DTC shipping
A lifeline for New York-based alcohol distillers at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic was an executive order allowing them to temporarily directly ship their products to consumers, but now the state’s Distillers Guild is pushing lawmakers to make that rule permanent, reports Buffalo-based Spectrum News. If approved, the measure would make New York the largest state to allow the DTC shipping of spirits by mail, and would likely bolster the argument to do so for alcohol marketers nationwide. While such permissions are already granted to most wineries in the U.S. — and, to a lesser extent, breweries and cideries — only seven states plus the District of Columbia currently permit distilleries to ship their products directly to consumers, according to a white paper published by tax compliance firm Avalara.
Alaiko launches in the United Kingdom
Alaiko, one of Europe’s top direct-to-consumer e-commerce fulfillment companies, has officially arrived in the U.K. “Alaiko’s UK launch is an exciting growth step and we see huge potential in this market for brands looking for a more effective way to deliver for their customers,” the company’s CEO, Moritz Weisbrodt, said in a statement on Tuesday. Founded in 2020, the Germany-based firm received over $30 million in venture capital funding last year and previously announced plans to take root in the British market by constructing a “state-of-the-art” fulfillment center north of London.
Other DTC deals this week:
- “D2C Home Cleaning Brand Koparo Raises $1.5 Million In Pre-Series A Funding” (Entrepreneur)
- “Authentic Brands Group acquires Hunter Boots intellectual property” (Retail Dive)
- “Exclusive: Why Great Jones, the millennial cool-kid cookware brand, sold itself to a conglomerate” (Fast Company)
In a shift from DTC focus, Nike is returning to key brick-and-mortar retailers
Following reports last week that Nike is coming back to Macy’s department store shelves, the sportswear giant is confirmed to also be returning its products to Designer Shoe Warehouse, Doug Howe, CEO of Designer Brands, said on an earnings call Thursday. The move, slated for the fourth quarter, signals a further reversal of a long-held DTC-centric strategy for Nike, which had actively been slashing traditional retail partners since 2017 in order to better focus on its direct sales, Modern Retail reports.
Additional takes:
- “Nike Footwear Will Reenter DSW Stores After Exiting the Retailer in 2022” (Footwear News)
- “Has Nike Learned It Just Can’t Do It With DTC Sales Alone?” (RetailWire)
Disney removes some content from its DTC services
Walt Disney Co. says that it has removed certain content from its direct-to-consumer streaming services and will “record a related $1.5 billion impairment charge” in its financial statements from the third quarter, Reuters reports. (The news broke late last Friday, so we’re including in this week’s round-up in case you missed it.) Per Variety’s Todd Spangler: “In its content purge … the media company pulled off more than 50 titles from Disney+ and Hulu, including series ‘Willow,’ ‘The Mysterious Benedict Society’ and ‘Dollface,’ and movies such as ‘The One and Only Ivan.’”
Additional takes:
- “Disney Sees Potential $1.9 Billion Charge From Removing Streaming Content” (The Wall Street Journal)
- “Who’s Winning the Streaming Wars in 2023?” (Vulture)
Further reading
- “Gluten free cookie company Mightylicious is battling shipping mishaps to grow DTC sales” (Digital Commerce 360)
- “The founder of DTC bedding brand Parachute on AI, brick-and-mortar and navigating the economy” (Ad Age)
- “Karma Water Debuts Direct-To-Consumer Hydration Kits” (BevNet)
Thank you for reading this week’s edition of The Week in Direct-to-Consumer. We’ll be back next Friday with more.
