by stevenpdennis | May 24, 2022 | Digitally Native Vertical Brand, Direct to Consumer, Profitless Prosperity
Warby Parker’s disappointing earnings report is just more evidence of what I call the profitless prosperity of disruptor brands. They join a growing list of retail innovators that are posting strongly growing revenues while their profits continue to worsen. Given that...
by stevenpdennis | Mar 25, 2022 | Digitally Native Vertical Brand, Direct to Consumer, Profitless Prosperity
Warby Parker is the latest “digitally native vertical brand” (DNVB) to disappoint investors, continuing a striking, but increasingly familiar, pattern of profitless prosperity from disruptor brands. In just the past few weeks, Stitch Fix, Allbirds, Figs, and the...
by stevenpdennis | Mar 16, 2022 | Branding, Digitally Native Vertical Brand, Direct to Consumer
Last week Stitch Fix—the online personalized styling service—reported its quarterly earnings. Sales exceeded Wall Street’s expectations, but losses widened compared to a year earlier. The company also provided an outlook that suggested future growth would be difficult...
by stevenpdennis | Feb 8, 2021 | Collapse of the Middle, Digitally Native Vertical Brand, Embrace the Blur
With so much uncertainty and volatility in the economy, it may be foolhardy to go out on a limb with any predictions. My crystal ball has certainly been faulty more than a few times. Nevertheless, I throw caution to the wind with my (mostly) educated guesses on what...
by stevenpdennis | Jan 14, 2020 | Digitally Native Vertical Brand, Disruption, Retail
It’s hard not to be impressed with The RealReal’s stock market debut. The luxury reseller raised $300MM in its initial public offering and saw its shares soar nearly 45% before settling in at at a market capitalization of $2.4 billion. Not too shabby. Until very...
