Did you know that80% of e-commerce brands fail?
One of the biggest reasons: they run out of money by focusing on growth at all costs instead of gathering the information they need to make smarter decisions.
Brands like Casper, Allbirds, and Peloton had early success fuelled by venture capital and massive ad spend, but as market conditions shifted, profitability became a challenge. These brands expanded rapidly, but sustaining growth in today's competitive landscape requires something more.
These brands expanded rapidly, but sustaining growth in today's competitive landscape requires something more.
What Can You Learn from Tech Startups?
Product-Market Fit is the key to sustainable growth. But it's not something you find by accident—it requires strategic action and a data-driven approach to inform every decision you make.
Here's how food, fashion, beauty, and wellness brands can take a page from tech startups:
Scale Smarter, Not Harder
Many founders believe that product-market fit will emerge if they push hard enough on their idea. But the brands that succeed long-term focus on gathering data, not just ideas.
- Your North-Star Metric—a measurable indicator of the value you create for customers—doesn't come from guesswork. It evolves through data-driven actions that build revenue, retention, and most importantly, valuable insights.
Why Data Is Your Competitive Edge
Your goal shouldn't be quick revenue. Instead, it should be to simplify your actions and gather data on key metrics like:
- Reach: Who is connecting with your brand?
- Engagement: How much are they interacting with your products or content?
- Frequency: How often are they coming back?
- Efficiency: How well are your efforts converting to growth?
Without this data, you can't measure the effectiveness of your brand's product mix. And without measurement, growth becomes guesswork.
Before You Chase Revenue, Chase Data
Data is the backbone of every decision that leads to product-market fit. Here's why it matters:
- Data informs your next move, whether it's refining messaging or launching a new product.
- Investing in data gathering early helps you avoid costly mistakes later.
- A data-driven strategy ensures that every step you take moves you closer to sustainable growth.
What DTC Brands Need to Do Next
For DTC brands, everything starts with data. Here's how you can apply it:
- Collect and analyse customer feedback to understand their true needs.
- Test your ideas through multiple launches—don't rely on a single product drop.
- Leverage insights to continuously refine your brand's unique value-creating activities.
Long-Term Success Is Built on Data, Not Just Design
While having a standout brand identity (aka"pretty privilege") helps DTC brands get noticed, it's not enough.
You need a data-driven strategy to back it up. Too many founders underinvest in gathering information, focusing only on immediate revenue. The key to long-term success?
Invest in insights that lead to smarter decisions, stronger products, and sustainable growth.
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