Why there still haven’t been more billion-dollar acquisitions for direct-to-consumer commerce startups

If ecommerce is blowing up, why are there so few big DTC exits?

Somehow, despite massive secular shifts and a lot of noise about rising ecommerce penetration, the DTC products themselves have produced only one billion dollar outcome: Dollar Shave Club (two if you count Harry’s).

Now-established players have learned that Instagram advertisements and influencer campaigns only scale to a point: they can net no more than a few hundred thousand of a brand’s “first best” customers. This has driven a shift toward physical retail and prompted founders to agonize over if and when to peddle their wares on Amazon, making direct to co... See more

And then — especially in the business press — because it furthered the narrative that even the hugest of consumer goods companies, long stuck in codependent relationships with the hugest of retailers, would start trying to sell more of their products direct.

What was innovative in 2010 is now table stakes. E-commerce paired with Instagram ads and a modern logo is no longer a novel experience. “DTC was an insight 10 years ago,” said Ben Lerer.