Recess CEO Benjamin Witte: I reject the idea that being on Amazon hurts your brand

Big brands are losing share of America’s GDP pie. Small brands are like the phoenix, rising out of their ashes. Birthed by the seeds of low startup costs, infinite digital shelf space, and hyper-targeted advertising, direct-to-consumer companies with strong brand identities and hyper-efficient ad targeting are unbundling big retail brands. Options ... See more

Amazon’s retail business may actually be disadvantaged long term by Covid due to more intense long term competition as thousands of SMBs have taken advantage of services from Wix, Shopify, etc. to go online, category leading retailers are investing online like never before and brands are investing in their DTC strategies — all at the same time that... See more

Witte says direct-to-consumer sales, as measured by weekly revenue run rate, are up 4X since before COVID-19, and average order value is up 30%. It recently launched subscriptions, which now represent more than 30% of orders. And the company’s “direct-to-business” wholesale e-commerce channel is up 3X since April, which has helped Recess get into s... See more

With the exception of a few larger volume sellers, Amazon is shifting away from the retailer model by limiting their wholesale partnerships to the most impactful partners. The rules of the consumer economy are changing faster than ever. Some of these changes have had dire consequences, especially for independent retailers and challenger brands. Thi... See more

But Recess has faced an even bigger retail growth challenge since the beginning: While CBD has attracted a lot of attention and investment, it’s still a legal gray area, and national chains like Whole Foods and Target won’t stock it. Witte says he still spends about half his time working on regulation.

As we write, Amazon is also moving aggressively to build a brick-and-mortar store capability, the future shape of which is still unknown. But since Barnes & Noble is candid about shrinking its bookselling presence, mass merchants are finding books less attractive than they used to be, and independent bookstores are, at best, growing slowly, it

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