

DTC business models have fundamentally changed how brands, agencies, and marketers interact, and this has only been accelerated by the pandemic.

With companies flooding into the e-commerce channel during the pandemic and many traditional off-shore supply chains experiencing disruptions, many DTC companies saw costs rise in 2020.

It goes without saying, no one was planning for a pandemic in 2020; especially not retailers who had just closed the books on a profitable 2019 holiday season. According to the National Retail Federation, a 14.6% lift in online sales had many feeling optimistic and doubling down on digital in the new year.

Personally, we at Markacy like to lead our growth strategy with financial analysis and then apply tactics where necessary. That’s because we’ve realized that these other parts simply can’t go unignored anymore.

Personally, we at Markacy like to lead our growth strategy with financial analysis and then apply tactics where necessary. That’s because we’ve realized that these other parts simply can’t go unignored anymore.

The worldwide changes in privacy regulation have put most marketers on alert and many are asking themselves how they’ll manage customer data without third-party cookies.
Since marketers will no longer be able to rely on third-party data, they’ll need to start building real relationships with their consumers and a foundation of first-party data to succeed.

Given that ad personalization is the cornerstone of the Facebook Ad Platform, opt-outs threaten to diminish the quality of the data pool and undermine a distinct competitive advantage.

We’ve been thinking a lot about how today’s e-commerce brands can win… tomorrow. With e-commerce continuing to accelerate, it’s more important than ever to build a scalable business model.

For too long, leadership teams have mentally separated “branding” from “marketing” as two different or efforts. Oftentimes managed by separate people. Unfortunately, brands that do this suffocate their ability to expand new and existing channels, because they miss out on valuable marketing data that can inform their creative decisions and testing strategies.

With the COVID pandemic coming under some semblance of control, companies have been taking notice, with marketers expected to spend 15 percent more on advertising than they did last year, according to the Wall Street Journal.

One of the most common mistakes marketing professionals make is basing media spend on audience cost; this wastes massive resources (the most expensive media you can buy is a cheap one that doesn’t work) and doesn’t take other factors related to media spending into account.

Online marketplaces like Amazon, Walmart and Target are investing heavily in their online and logistics infrastructure to acquire more online consumer spend. Digital brands that are balancing .com and broader marketplace investments are winning and acquiring more customers.

No question, 2020 was a juggernaut year for direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing. Prior to the pandemic, many brands had planned modest DTC investments, but following COVID, and a cascade of worldwide lockdowns, retailers were compelled to innovate on the fly. According to Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella, their analysts observed “two years’ worth of digital transformation in two months.”

By the time December rolls around each year, most retailers have exhausted their promotional playbooks, having focused a significant share of their year-end resources on Black Friday sales. This is especially true in the age of COVID, with rumors of recession echoing the hall, many believe that BFCM may be the last shot at real volume. We advise our clients otherwise.

For most E-Commerce businesses, Q4 is the biggest time of the year for sales and revenue. Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Holiday shopping societal triggers help boost demand and conversion rate during these periods. November and December are typically the highest E-Commerce revenue months for many discretionary sectors such as fashion, beauty, personal care, electronics, etc.

The goals of influencer marketing run the gamut. Obviously the end goal is to drive sales and/or conversions, but your secondary goals will point you in one of four directions, which we’ll refer to here as our pillars.

Big news from Apple this week as they begin releasing highly-anticipated iOS 14.5 updates. Labeled as a huge win for privacy advocates and consumers, many eCommerce brands and marketers have been bracing for months, fearing significant impacts to ad targeting & conversion.

If you’re running a direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand, there’s no getting around it. Love it or hate it, Facebook needs to be part of your marketing-tactic arsenal. When done right, however, Facebook is one of the most cost-efficient ways to acquire new customers and tell your story to potential customers. It’s also not going anywhere.

A black swan is a term famously coined by author and statistician Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable, as a metaphorical event, positive or negative, that is deemed improbable yet causes massive consequences.

Warby Parker was first launched in 2010 as the team finished up their graduate degrees. Warby was launched as an exclusively direct-to-consumer brand offering prescription eyewear at affordable prices.