Ep 31 - DTC vs Wholesale: Finding the Right Balance Katelyn Glass, Matt Bachmann, and Hilary Jensen

In this episode, we dive into strategies that help balance DTC and Wholesale as sales channels. We discussed the pros and cons of each channel, and our experts explain the different roles DTC and Wholesale play, how a good mix can help with brand awareness and customer acquisition,  and best practices to integrate into your channel strategy. 

Here’s What We Discussed: 

• [00:53] Our experts introduce themselves and share their background 
• [02:31] How do you approach balancing your media and campaign performance when balancing DTC and Wholesale? 
• [09:08] Using wholesale, retail, and pop-up models as a tool to acquire a new customer base and drive awareness
• [18:34] The different roles DTC and retail play and why wholesale and retail experiences are here to stay
• [22:10] Things to keep in mind when setting up 3PL for DTC 
• [27:41] How COVID affected fulfillment and 3PL supply chains 
• [31:17] Matt talks about where Wandering Bear Coffee sold their first 1000 units and their learnings from selling direct-to-office 
• [33:58] How Wandering Bear Coffee drove more sales to their flavored coffees through a UX change 
• [37:55] Matt’s thoughts on marketplaces and consignment opportunities and how COVID fundamentally affected his distribution mix 
• [42:34] Best practices for compelling customers to buy through your DTC channels while serving your wholesale channel

About Our Speakers

Katelyn Glass, Founder & Managing Partner at Fifty Six Advising, Katelyn is the Founder and managing partner of Fifty Six Advising and has spent the past 12+ years of her professional career leading the digital transformation for multiple firms serving in various change management roles for high-end retail and consumer brands. 

Matt Bachmann, CEO & Co-Founder at Wandering Bear Coffee, Matt is CEO & Co-Founder of Wandering Bear Coffee. In 2013, Matt walked into a grad school classroom carrying a travel mug of homemade cold brew and met Ben Gordon who was sitting with his own mason jar of home-brew. Their fated meeting set the two off on a seven-year-long journey to create the best-tasting, strongest coffee products on the market, packed uniquely to suit the full range of caffeination occasions, whether at home, at work, or on the go.

Hilary Jensen, Founder & CEO at Obe, Hilary is Founder & CEO of Obe. Obe provides individualized nutrition for your healthier, happier pet. Obe’s digital platform provides veterinarians and pet parents with real-time, accurate behavioral data that enables better health and nutrition decisions to help with preventative care and early diagnosis of potential problems, long before the problems are acute. Hilary is a customer-focused, data-driven entrepreneur with successful experience rapidly growing DTC and B2B businesses to profitability and exit.

About Our Host
Anish Shah is the CEO & Founder of executive search agency Bring Ruckus. Anish has worked in-house in Growth roles at Snapfish and Getable. He started Bring Ruckus as a Growth consultancy 11 years ago working with 40+ clients, then re-focused his firm on executive recruiting for Growth leaders.

 

Quotes

“We have always taken the stance that it's not our right to care where they find our product, we just need them to care about finding our product.” – Matt Bachmann

 

“When wholesale is used effectively, it can be used as a tool to acquire you a new customer base.” –  Katelyn Glass

 

“The same experience you get from buying a luxury good online is different from when you walk into a retail shop and they give you the white-glove treatment. You don't get that experience from online. I think a lot of wholesale and store experiences are really always going to be relevant that way.” – Katelyn Glass

 

“What comes to mind when thinking about marketplaces? It's just the economics. Marketplaces need to be profitable for you. You need to figure out how to support them and hopefully grow them in a way where they're not consuming more resources than they're able to generate.” – Matt Bachmann

 

“The right partner can really help balance your overall DTC strategy. There could be a retailer or a wholesale account who gives you access to a new consumer that your DTC is incapable of getting.” – Katelyn Glass

ABOUT RUCKUS

We are growth leaders who recruit your game changers. Visit https://bringruckus.com and connect on LinkedIn. Subscribe and listen to more episodes on Apple Podcasts, Spotify Google Podcasts, Audible, or wherever you get your podcasts!  

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