BACK
Tags:dollars shave club,value chain,customer,blue apron,rebel,market cap,dtc brand,casper,everyone,expensive customer acquisition,Saved For Later
Posted: 2020-08-12 14:01:30
Shopify and the Hard Thing About Easy Things

From Packy McCormick at Substack
Originally published 2020-08-10
If I were a rebel starting a sunglasses company, let’s call it Rebel Sunglasses, and didn’t want to go through Amazon (the empire), here’s what I would do. I could find and order product wholesale on Alibaba, set up a store on Shopify, drive customers to the site by buying ads on Facebook, Google, and Instagram, either myself or by hiring a growth marketing contractor on Marketerhire, take payments via Stripe, drop ship directly from China with Boxc or import with Flexport and ship with USPS, answer customer questions on Zendesk or Kustomer, and return items via Returnly. Not all companies do it this way, of course. Many do their own R&D, set up their own supply chain, lease their own warehouses, and acquire customers in novel ways. Some roll their own tech stack to make sure that their tech meets their companies’ unique needs. But the fact that competitors can easily launch a DTC product means that any one brand’s strategic position, and ability to generate profits over the long-term, is weakened.
If I were a rebel starting a sunglasses company, let’s call it Rebel Sunglasses, and didn’t want to go through Amazon (the empire), here’s what I would do. I could find and order product wholesale on Alibaba, set up a store on Shopify, drive customers to the site by buying ads on Facebook, Google, and Instagram, either myself or by hiring a growth marketing contractor on Marketerhire, take payments via Stripe, drop ship directly from China with Boxc or import with Flexport and ship with USPS, answer customer questions on Zendesk or Kustomer, and return items via Returnly. Not all companies do it this way, of course. Many do their own R&D, set up their own supply chain, lease their own warehouses, and acquire customers in novel ways. Some roll their own tech stack to make sure that their tech meets their companies’ unique needs. But the fact that competitors can easily launch a DTC product means that any one brand’s strategic position, and ability to generate profits over the long-term, is weakened.
Tags:dollars shave club,value chain,customer,blue apron,rebel,market cap,dtc brand,casper,everyone,expensive customer acquisition,Saved For Later
Related News
Related Posts
Moutain inspired apparel from Alps & Meters
Saturday January 09, 2021
Alps & Meters is a premium, mountain inspired apparel brand with stores in Boston, Deer Valley UT, and Aspen CO. Of course, the brand also…
How can nocode & lowcode change development?
Friday January 08, 2021
Nocode and low-code development is on the rise. We recently got started on a new project using Bubble.io, after checking out an…
Social is trending private
Thursday January 07, 2021
The events that unfolded yesterday at the Capitol building were the result of years of turmoil, provocation, and a change in culture…