The emergence of new companies selling direct online has been a big story for some time. Mattress brands Casper and Emma, luggage maker Away, beauty company Glossier, and garment retailer Happy Socks were among the first highly successful direct-to-consumer (D2C) firms, many of them based in Europe.

Customer-first approach: Glossier is just one of many digitally native D2C brands that have made responsiveness a key component of their strategy. In Glossier’s case, its gTEAM is tasked with reading Instagram comments, website product reviews, comments in its 21,000 member-strong Into the Gloss Facebook group, posts on the r/glossier subreddit, and a number of other sources.

Glossier CEO Emily Weiss once said, “Amazon really solved buying, but it killed shopping in the process.” Implicit in this observation is the idea that ecommerce has primarily evolved around conversion optimization while ignoring much of what precedes that moment. The dominant digital path to purchase begins with a product search—often unbranded—during which the consumer demonstrates intent.

Glossier CEO Emily Weiss once said, “Amazon really solved buying, but it killed shopping in the process.” Implicit in this observation is the idea that up until this point, ecommerce has primarily evolved around conversion optimization, while ignoring much of what precedes that moment in the shopper’s journey.

Mattress brands Casper and Emma, luggage maker Away, beauty company Glossier, and Happy Socks were among the first highly successful direct-to-consumer (D2C) firms, many of them based in Europe. Like several other digital retail trends, D2C has been further propelled by market conditions during the coronavirus pandemic.

Many successful D2C brands are based [or have major offices] in Europe, such as Happy Socks or Glossier. Amazon remains the dominant marketplace in many European countries, but it’s not the only player, as the landscape is far more fragmented, with many niche and category-specific marketplaces.

The D2C movement launched several startups that are destined to be power brands, if they haven’t achieved that status already: Peloton, Warby Parker, Glossier, Brooklinen, Chewy, and Quip, to name a few.

October 2018 data from Activate—the most recent research we have on the topic—found that a plurality of D2C brands, including Fabletics, Warby Parker and Glossier, opened or announced a store opening worldwide last year. That figure is significantly higher this year as other brands such as Allbirds, Casper and Burrow continue to expand their physical footprints.

“And it’s not just the billion dollar brands like Kylie Cosmetics and Glossier—there’s a whole cottage industry of emerging direct-to-consumer [D2C] brands in the beauty and personal care space that are leveraging targeted social ads and influencer marketing to accelerate growth,” said Andrew Lipsman, eMarketer principal analyst.

And dozens of D2C brands, including Warby Parker, Bonobos, Casper and Glossier, are opening stores around the US. These digital natives have come to realize that physical retail can introduce the brand to consumers in a more tangible way that both creates brand awareness and drives incremental sales.