While digital natives may not have to deal with the obstacles most brick-and-mortar retailers are facing, that of store closures, that doesn’t mean they don’t have their own challenges to overcome
Over the last few weeks, more than 100 retailers – both legacy and DTC – have been forced to shutter their doors, or at the very least reduce their hours to do their part in stopping the worldwide spread of the coronavirus. Digitally native brands may not have the large store portfolio to contend with their more traditional operators may, but the move to operating online has not been as smooth as it should have been.
For example, online spending at ThirdLove in the week of 16 March fell 39 per cent week-on-week, while Poshmark fell 30 per cent and StitchFix fell nine per cent during the same period. As a whole, direct-to-consumer brand week-on-week spending fell seven per cent on average between 2 March and 22 March.
These brands face other obstacles, like not being able to get additional funding right now or not having the necessary specialists working to help get them through this difficult period. At the same time, many brands were already dealing with unprofitability long before the outbreak began.
