Direct-to-consumer brands have increasingly moved into the physical space, blurring the lines between their business model and that of traditional retail. In Diffusion’s survey, consumers showed interest in visiting a DTC’s physical store to get a sense of the product (37%), for convenience, (32%) or to get the product right away (28%). They also expressed interest in visiting multiple DTC brands in one location (27%).
The most popular locations for digitally native brands to open a store are New York City, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Boston. But that may leave out large parts of the country, forcing DTCs to find other means of attracting those customers to their brands.
