ON DTC AND HOME IMPROVEMENT

When our new dryer’s electrical power singed the dryer sheet and caught fire, I was fortunate enough to prevent any further trouble. But I found that the easy part was over with the damage caused to our basement. The harder part was dealing with an antiquated system of supply chain, service, and logistics. The longer Americans are sheltered in plac... See more

Today, there is an ecosystem of retailers, services, and brands primed to appeal to modern consumer behavior. There are prominent, online-first furniture marketplaces like Houzz and Wayfair. Yet, there isn’t a digitally-native home improvement hub for modern brands like Sunday, Titan Sinkware, Setter, Article, Clare, Open Spaces, Burrow, and The In... See more

Not only was I dealing with a 200-pound machine with a burned-out electrical panel, I had to manage the most opaque customer service (CX) experiences that I have seen. For younger brands with small in-house CX teams, consumers have come to expect this. But imagine being on your phone for 19 hours over three days with a publicly-traded retailer wort... See more

People who wouldn’t ordinarily invest resources into their home are seeking the resources to learn, buy, and complete these improvements on their own. But for their direct-to-consumer era, there isn’t a proverbial “Toolman” Taylor or a modern DTC marketplace for the tools of the trade. The conventional model has been slow to catch up to modern reta... See more