Should Growing Retail Brands Double Down On Their In-Store Retail Outlets Or Diversify To DTC?

Founder and CEO of Tiege Hanley, Kelley Thornton, delves into the world of skincare systems for men, emphasizing the importance of understanding brand differentiators. Discover how Tiege Hanley simplifies skincare routines for men, providing the necessary tools to face each day confidently. Join Kelley as she shares insights on brand positioning and the significance of knowing your market. Show NotesConnect With:Kelley Thornton: Website // LinkedInThe MarTech Podcast: Email // Newsletter // TwitterBenjamin Shapiro: Website // LinkedIn // TwitterSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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  From advertising to software as a service to data, across all of our programs and clients, we've seen a 55% to 65% open rate.

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  Welcome to the Martech Podcast, a member of the I Hear Everything Podcast Network. In this podcast, you'll hear the stories of world-class marketers that use technology to drive business results and achieve career success. Here's the host of the Martech Podcast, Benjamin Shapiro.

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  Welcome to the Martech Podcast. I'm your host, Benjamin Shapiro, and today we're going to discuss D to C marketing. Joining me is Kelly Thornton, who is the founder and CEO of Tej Hanley, which is a provider of uncomplicated skincare systems designed specifically for men, equipping them with essential skincare tools to confidently tackle their day. All right, here's my conversation with Kelly Thornton, the founder and CEO of Tej Hanley. Kelly, I want to move on to our lightning round where we quickly answer some Martech questions related to the topic of the week, which is D to C marketing. Are you ready?

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  Let's do it.

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  All right, we're going to start off with double down or diversify. Should growing retail brands double down on their in-store retail outlets or start to think about diversifying into D to C in your opinion?

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  I think they should diversify. Into DTC. I think any brand that is out there that really wants to serve their customers well, should try to meet the customer where the customer wants to buy. That's my philosophy as a DTC going into wholesale or retail. I think you diversify because you want to put your product in the hands of where the consumer is.

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  Now, let me play devil's advocate a little here where you've got an established retail presence. It's thriving. You know that you can continue to optimize. You've got a skill set to get people into a store and hopefully associates that can help sell your products. And now all of a sudden, you're saying, you know what we should do instead of expanding new retail outlets and run the existing business model. We're going to try to be a digital company. We're going to move entirely online. How do you make the trade off from moving towards something that you know works into something that is the great unknown for traditional retail brands?

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  You ask yourself if you want to stay alive or not.

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  Okay. Does everybody who goes into DTC thrive?

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  Well, here's the thing. Alls you need to do is look at Amazon, Tik Tok and T mail. I can't tell you the last time that I needed to purchase something. Now, this is me and the family dynamics and everything plays a big role in it. Where me personally did not just go on to Amazon to get that thing that I needed. I just, as a matter of fact, these headphones came yesterday. And most all of a sudden, I was talking to a guy yesterday, he needed Band-Aids or bandages. I bought something for, to hang something on my wall. I went to Amazon. I knew what I wanted. I made the selection. It asked me, do you want it from 8:00 AM the next day, 8:00 AM to 10 o'clock for no additional cost? Or do you want it before 8:00 AM for like an additional $5? And I'm like thinking, this is bananas. Like before 8:00 AM, when are you going to drop it off?

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  My kid for Christmas wanted a Pokemon mystery box. And we confused mystery pack with mystery box. And he was all upset and it was like, what? He's like, this isn't a box. This is a pack. And I was like, all right, let's get Amazon. Show me what is a box. And then he found this $40 box that had like three packs in it. And it showed up the next morning, like before he was awake. It's crazy.

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  Yeah. To put a point on this, it's like the demand that consumers will continue to have over the next 10 or 15 years is how do I purchase something at the comfort of my own home and have it delivered tomorrow? That is what if you're at, fill in the blank, if you're selling it at Kroger, that's what you're going to be dealing with. If I could get it in a few hours and that's, I look at Amazon as a hybrid between kind of a DTC and a bricks and mortar retail. But that's what you're competing against if you have your product on shelf at that toy store. So in my mind, you should be able to try to leverage a supply organization within your company to have a similar competing service that'll allow your customer.

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  And you may be distributing your product through Amazon, purchasing on your website to deliver it next day.

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  All right. If you're running a brick and mortar retailer, you're diversifying towards DTC, no matter what the brand is. And that wraps up this episode of the Martech Podcast. Thanks for listening to my conversation with Kelly Thornton, the founder and CEO of Tiege Hanley. If you'd like to get in touch with Kelly, you can find a link to his LinkedIn profile in our show notes. You can DM him on Instagram. His company's handle is Tiege Hanley. That's T I E G E H A N L E Y. Or you can visit his company's website, which is just teige.com, T I E G E dot com. If you'd like a summary of this podcast, or if you'd like to apply to be the next guest speaker on the Martech Podcast, head over to martechpod.com.

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  You can also find our video clips for the Martech Podcast on YouTube, Instagram and on X. And if you'd like to contact me, let's connect on LinkedIn. My handle is Ben J. Shap, B E N J S H A P. And if you haven't subscribed yet and you want a daily stream of marketing and technology knowledge in your podcast feed, hit the subscribe button in your podcast app and we'll be back in your feed tomorrow morning. All right, that's it for today. But until next time, my advice is to just focus on keeping your customers happy.

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  Thanks for listening to the MarTech Podcast, an I Hear Everything production. Looking to launch or scale a podcast like this one for your brand? Then visit iHearEverything.com.