I don’t buy the argument that being brandless was a mistake. Brandless is the brand and it was very clever of them. If there is something they got right, it was the branding. What undid them is the cost of goods sold. It’s beyond me as to why they didn’t go premium with pricing and focused on lesser categories. But they had a thesis to follow and... See more

Brandless was primarily felled by a thesis that never panned out — that there were young consumers who craved a digital middle ground between dollar stores and malls. People who were price-sensitive, cared somewhat about quality, but not about brands. Walmart for hipsters. Trader Joe's for millennials.

I think this drives at a more fundamental failing by Brandless in particular, that is likely true broadly: the company’s cost structure was completely unsuited for DTC. My strong suspicion — admittedly biased, given Stratechery’s business model — is that the biggest opportunities in DTC are in niches, and the best way to exploit those niches is by... See more