Analysis
When e.l.f. Beauty announced its $1 billion acquisition of Hailey Bieber’s skincare brand Rhode in May 2025, the DTC world did a collective double take. A two-year-old brand. Minimal SKUs. Built on TikTok. Worth 10 figures? That’s not just a win for celebrity-powered marketing—it’s
Strategies
Tariffs are up. Ad costs are rising. And mid-sized DTC brands are feeling the squeeze. If you're not actively tightening your pricing strategy in 2025, you're already behind. The good news? Small moves—upsells, bundles, pricing psychology—can drive big profit. The 2025 Margin Crunch: Why
Strategies
In 2025, bloated app stacks are quietly eroding margins. DTC brands are realizing that “more tools” doesn’t mean more growth—just more drag. Thanks to Shopify’s Summer ’25 Edition, you no longer need to duct-tape half your backend together. The best operators are simplifying, not stacking (Tapcart). Why
Strategies
Customer acquisition costs keep climbing. And yet, for most brands, 70–80% of first-time buyers never come back (Eli Weiss). That stat alone is a red flag for any operator chasing profitability post-iOS14. The math is simple: if you’re not converting the customers you already paid for, your margins
Industry
Back-to-school (BTS) no longer starts in August. In 2025, it kicked off right after Memorial Day, as major retailers raced to front-load promotions—and parents followed, wallets in hand (Retail Brew). For DTC brands, this isn’t just a calendar shift—it’s a competitive test. The brands that plan
Analysis
In April, a tariff tsunami slammed global supply chains. The U.S. dropped a sweeping 10% tariff on most imports—then followed with a jaw-dropping 145% rate on Chinese goods just days later (China Briefing, 2025). For DTC brands, the impact was immediate: China-to-U.S. cargo volumes plunged by up
Industry
Shopify’s Summer ’25 Edition isn’t a cosmetic update—it’s a strategic play for operators. This rollout gives lean DTC teams access to tools that once required expensive dev stacks: AI-generated storefronts, real-time analytics, and global infrastructure that just works. Whether you're redesigning your PDPs or