Retail Channel Management

🗣️ “I didn’t want to make Nike, Adidas and Puma richer.” - a masterclass in sports business and fashion. This quote is from Aurelio De Laurentiis, owner of SSC Napoli. His club Napoli went fully inhouse for their jersey and merch and created a startup in the club. A masterclass in sports &business by Europe’s most financially sustainable club ♻️- you would not expect in Napoli ;). I) How it usually works – Club x Supplier 👕 – Club signs with Nike, Adidas, Puma, etc. – Brand pays yearly fixed fee as sponsor – Club gets free gear + ~€5–7 per jersey – Royalties = ~10–15% of wholesale price – Brand handles production, logistics etc – Club only earns more via its own stores In short – Safe, low-margin, low-control – Great for global distribution – Merch is outsourced – so is upside 🤯 II) Napoli’s shift – DIY + EA7 “I called my friend Giorgio Armani. I needed to make my own jerseys, but with a credible brand. That’s how the idea was born.” 🧠 Starting 2021/22: – Ended Kappa deal (€8M/year) – No traditional sponsor replaced it – Partnered with EA7/Armani (€100k/year) – Napoli handles: design, production —>all – EA7 provides: brand, fashion expertise Strategic plays: – No middlemen – Global D2C via Amazon et al – Released 13 kits in first year❗️ – Built demand through drops & storytelling Control gained: – Faster time to market – Higher per-unit net margin (est. ~50%) – Cultural & visual brand alignment III) Did it work? Merch revenue by season “It’s like another company within our company, one that produces a lot of stuff. We’ve transformed everything.” ⬇️ Merch rev., growth, est. % of total rev. year by year: 20/21: €3.4M, –, 2% (last season w/ Kappa) 21/22: €5.8M, +71%, 3.5% 22/23: €14.7M, +332%, 5.5% 23/24: €21.5M, +532%, 8.0% 24/25: Est. €25M+ considering title momentum 🏆 📈 5x merch revenue growth in 4 years → Thanks to entrepreneurial vision and execution. 📌 Lessons for the industry – Vertical integration isn’t just for factories – Brand control > brand dependency – Storytelling, scarcity, speed = sales Could this model scale to other top clubs? Or is this DIY path one-of-a-kind? Want to see more behind-the-scenes from Napoli’s business model? 👇 Let’s talk in the comments. Lucas Sorrentino

On the road to Chubbies >$100M exit, a mistake I made was thinking DTC was our most profitable channel. 5 lessons & 1 Action: Lesson 1: DTC isn't really DTC Early on, we thought DTC was the future. It's DIRECT to consumer, after all I was wrong As Facebook acquisition costs worsened over time, we learned DTC is a misnomer Beholden to an algo we have no control over, a more fitting acronym is DTZBA: Direct to Zuckerberg's Bank Account Lesson 2: DTC Has Benefits, but The Favorable Economics of the Good Ol' Days Are Gone: CAC was a fraction of today You could actually reach most of your social following Shipping, 3PL labor, Shopify and Klaviyo were cheaper Free shipping/returns weren't standard etc If you're spending the vast majority of your ad dollars on DR measured on 1d click, solid chance adding disciplined wholesale can generate accretive incremental contribution $$, assuming you're willing to invest in brand Lesson 3: Under-Appreciated Additional Benefits of Wholesale Predictability in CAC: the margin hit you take from retail partners, while large, does not have the volatility of DR, and certainly hasn't 2, 3 or 4x'd like Meta. Forecasting gets a bit easier Access Massive TAM: Wholesale = 7-10x larger than Shopify Diversification of Cashflow Streams: adds resilience, downside protection. A growth story for investors/acquirers Higher Quality Brand Building: Physical products = wearable billboards. The quality of the impression is 1000x more impactful than an IG ad. Fuels DTC too. You look bigger & more legit when in a great retailer Lesson 4: Avoid Hell on Earth: Get your ops house in order Inventory Mgmt: Make sure that's in a good place. If not, checkout Kyle and Dave's new co. Ensure 3PL can do wholesale: Don't learn on the day 10,000 units are going to 3 retailers, each w diff't EDI rules Negotiate COGS or terms: Rationale for "why now?" is sound since buys are going to start 📈 Lesson 5: Brand Building Drives It All To experience any of these benefits, you've got to reach more people and get them to feel something Classic product/offer/urgency creative has some impact, but it won't maximize the chance someone chooses you when they walk into the store, & it def won't get the retail buyer to bang down your door to carry you You'll see Brand dollars go further here Action: Every brand is different, so here's an action to consider as you make the right call for you Review DTC cost increases since day 1 Incorporate the "risk" costs on your biz like CAC volatility Forecast continued trends. See when economic model breaks Takes multiple years to ramp wholesale, so work back to when you need to start Make a call Takeaways: Right now, few things are more important than finding incremental accretive contribution $ While all channels have pros & cons, adding wholesale could help Experiencing those benefits requires incorporation of broad reach, feeling-driven, net-new demand generation (Brand building)

Your biggest revenue channel might be your biggest profit leak. Most multi-channel founders I talk to can tell me their top-line revenue by channel in seconds. But when I ask which channel is actually making them money after platform fees, fulfillment, returns, and ad spend? Silence. And that's a problem, especially heading into Q4. Scaling decisions get locked in fast. Let me show you what a channel contribution analysis looks like 👇🏼 Take your Shopify DTC channel. Subtract: - Merchant processing fees (~3%) - Paid ad spend to acquire that customer - Shipping + fulfillment costs - Return rate (DTC tends to run higher) - Shopify platform fees Now what's your gross margin per channel? Run the same math on Amazon: - FBA fees (pick, pack, storage) - Amazon ad spend - Referral fees (~15% depending on category) - Return processing - Any co-op or promotional fees And wholesale: - Retailer margin (often 50%+) - Freight to their DC - Compliance/EDI fees - Chargebacks and deductions The channel pulling the highest revenue is often the thinnest on margin. Amazon looks profitable until you properly allocate ad spend. Wholesale looks safe until you factor in deductions and freight. DTC looks premium until CAC creeps up going into Q4. - - - Mid-Q3 is exactly when you should be running this analysis. Before you commit Q4 inventory, set ad budgets, or double down on a channel that's bleeding margin. I've seen brands reallocate 30-40% of their Q4 spend after doing this analysis for the first time. They finally knew which one deserved more fuel. Remember: Channel revenue doesn't equal channel profit. - - - Which of your channels would survive a full contribution margin breakdown? ♻️ Know a founder heading into Q4 without this analysis? Repost this for them. P.S. If you want to build a channel contribution model for your business before Q4 planning kicks in, I can help ➜ https://lnkd.in/eZ9cu5vR #DTCBrands #EcommerceStrategy #CashFlowTips #FinanceTips #FractionalCFO

Levi’s stock popped 10% after reporting the strongest growth in 4 years. But more interesting than the +14% yoy growth? Levi’s hybrid distribution playbook. In the latest quarter: Direct-to-consumer (DTC) grew +16% Wholesale grew +12% Gross profit margin basically flat yoy Most companies are flat or shrinking in both DTC and wholesale right now with margins pressured downward by tariffs + promotions. ⚠️ So How has Levi’s pulled off the OPPOSITE result?    1️⃣ They re-synced with demand. Looser fits. Baggier silhouettes. Core styles that actually match where consumers have moved. Sounds simple, but most brands  either chase trends too late—or fragment their assortment trying to keep up. Levi’s stayed close to its core and got the product right. And part of this is rationalizing assets (Dockers) that distract. 2️⃣ They cleaned up the economics. Less discounting. More full-price selling. Tighter inventory control. Growth in apparel isn’t just about selling more units. It’s about not destroying margin while you do it. 3️⃣ They’re using each channel strategically. In the past few years Nike tried going all in on DTC. Why? They thought they’d capture more margin by cutting retailers out and going direct to the consumer. And they might have been right, except they also pulled back from wholesale, gave up shelf space, and opened the door for competitors. Distribution shrank. Discovery shrank. Others stepped in. And they ended up discounting their product and eroding margin as volume piled up. What Levi’s has done instead is a synergistic balance:  📊 DTC to capture margin + capture demand signals, while 🛍️ leveraging those demand signals to capture more retail shelf-space from stressed distribution partners. 💡 The insight: if you know what’s relevant through your DTC data, you can use that to help retail partners win with relevant product. Levi’s isn’t choosing between margin and reach ❗ This is what many brands, including Nike, got wrong. Levi’s advanced both channels, each with a different purpose. ✅ DTC: margin + demand signaling ✅ Wholesale: Volume + discovery + defense They expanded margin through DTC. They protected reach through wholesale. And they aligned product + inventory so both could work. Levi’s just reported what might prove to be a turning point quarter by building a system where: ✔️ product is relevant ✔️ Assortment/inventory is disciplined ✔️ and distribution channels work together This may seem basic to some.  But execution is where the magic is. 💪 🏆 And right now, that’s enough to grow while others are standing still. #levis #retail #fashionindustry #businessoffashion

Managing channel conflict is one of the biggest risks to DTC brands launching in retail. With the proliferation of omnichannel as the dominant GTM strategy, one of the biggest risks I don’t see talked about is how to avoid channel conflict between mass retail, Amazon, and DTC. Let’s take a pretty realistic example.   A brand sells a single product for $7 on DTC. But they sell that same product for $10 on Amazon, to account for the higher cost to serve. Finally, Walmart comes knocking and wants to bring this product in, great!  But they want it priced at $5.97. See the issue? The risk is that with Amazon and Walmart as major competitors, they’ll price match off each other. All of a sudden, by launching in Walmart you’ve just majorly cannibalized your Amazon business and now have the potential to do the same thing to your DTC channel. Understanding this risk, planning for it, and mitigating it is one of the major pitfalls to avoid when going omnichannel. 

Most brands make the same mistake 👇 They run the same growth playbook across every channel. This will cost you in the long run. DTC and retail are different growth systems entirely. So your team needs to act accordingly. I have operated inside both. Here is what changes between them: 👥 Audience and data access DTC: You own the customer relationship. Every purchase, browse behavior, and lifecycle signal is yours to act on. Retail: You are largely selling to the retailer (not the end customer). The data feedback loop is out of your control. 🛍️ Buying cycle DTC: It is often faster, and driven by creative and offer. Retail: Think longer lead times, seasonal buys, sell-through targets, and retailer relationship management. The growth levers look nothing like each other. 🎨 Creative strategy DTC: Creative is a direct performance variable. You test it, read the signal, and iterate. Retail: Creative is about brand positioning and shelf presence. The feedback loop is much slower. 💿 Channel mix DTC: This involves paid social, email, and owned channels. Retail: Wholesale relationships, co-op marketing, in-store placement, and retailer-driven promotions. 📈 Success metrics DTC: CAC, LTV, MER, retention rate, and contribution margin by channel. Retail: Sell-through, replenishment rates, margin by door, and wholesale revenue. 🚆 Decision speed DTC: Test, learn, and reallocate in days or weeks. Retail: Decisions made months in advance. Most brands today are running both. The ones that struggle apply DTC logic to retail decisions, or retail logic to DTC growth. The ones that win understand the distinction and build their operating system around it. Growth is a system, and it has to match the right model. Applying the wrong playbook to the wrong channel is one of the most expensive mistakes brands make at scale. Which DTC model are your team running right now, and where does the friction show up?  Drop it below. If you are managing both and want to pressure-test how your growth stack is set up, send me a DM. ♻️ Repost to help a founder or operator navigating the same complexity.  And follow me, Jacob Rokeach, for more operator-level reads on growth and brand strategy.

The three questions I ask every founder about their growth strategy: When I sit down with founders, they always show the same hockey stick projections. But the most successful brands I've worked with don't chase growth—they pursue the right kind of growth. After years of strategy sessions with everyone from pre-seed startups to eight-figure retail powerhouses, I've refined my approach to 3 essential questions: 1. What's your customer acquisition ceiling? Most founders know their CAC and LTV; Few understand when they're approaching market saturation in their current customer segment. Take a luxury skincare brand I worked with targeting 25% YoY growth. Their data revealed the warning signs: doubling CAC despite identical targeting, increased ad frequency with declining CTRs—clear indicators they were repeatedly reaching the same potential customers who had already decided not to purchase. When you hit this acquisition ceiling, you have two options: launch new products/categories or extract more value from existing customers. New product development wasn't feasible in their timeline + budget, so we focused on their current customer: implementing tiered loyalty, limited-edition bundles + subscription options that increased purchase frequency by 35%. Shifted strategy from pure acquisition → retention + expansion, increasing AOV sustainably. 2. Which distribution channels actually match your business stage? "We need to be everywhere" is the fastest path to nowhere. A DTC brand was offered a major dept store opportunity (hello omnipresence!) but we looked at what it would actually require: • Producing inventory 5x their normal volume upfront • Tying up 70% of their working capital for 6+ months • Navigating 90-day payment terms while still paying their suppliers • Risking significant brand perception damage if the launch underperformed Instead, we started with 3 high-end specialty boutiques with 30-day terms, developed a DTS replenishment program that matched their prod capacity, and negotiated preferred placement and marketing support. Create a runway of wholesale proof points → leverage for bigger retail opps once operational infrastructure can support it. 3. What are you willing to be bad at? This is the question that makes founders uncomfortable, but is the most revealing. Every successful brand makes strategic sacrifices. Skims isn't trying to win high fashion. Reformation isn't competing on price. Vuori isn't chasing fashion week headlines. When you try to be everything to everyone, you become nothing to anyone. The brands that win make deliberate tradeoffs—saying no to certain customers, channels, or categories to dominate their chosen positioning. If your growth strategy doesn't include clear sacrifices, it's not a strategy- It's a wish list. At MARKET EDIT, these questions form just the beginning of how we build unfiltered business intelligence for founders and separates sustainable growth from expensive mirages.

Most of my work is with DTC brands. But more and more of my conversations recently are with companies trying to bridge DTC and B2B. The pattern is consistent. A brand that started DTC realizes their unit economics work better in wholesale. Or a wholesale brand realizes their margins are higher direct. Either way, they end up running both channels and discovering quickly that the operational requirements are completely different. DTC fulfillment is high-volume, low-weight, residential delivery, customer-facing tracking, and individualized return windows. B2B fulfillment is fewer, larger orders, palletized shipping, commercial delivery, EDI integrations, and net-30 invoicing. The systems brands buy for one don't usually serve the other. So they end up with two parallel ops stacks, two sets of carrier relationships, and two teams that don't talk to each other. What I've seen work better is treating both channels as variations of the same core fulfillment capability, not as two separate businesses. The customer is different. The package size is different. The shipping speed expectations are different. But the underlying questions (where is inventory, what's the right carrier, what's the actual transit time, how do we communicate the promise) are identical. Brands that build their ops stack around those questions, then layer channel-specific logic on top, end up faster and cheaper than brands that build two of everything. I think this matters more in 2026 than it has historically. Wholesale is becoming a margin lifeline for DTC brands hit by rising CAC. DTC is becoming a discovery and brand-building engine for legacy wholesale companies. Almost every brand I know is moving toward both. The infrastructure question is the one nobody wants to deal with until they have to.

I’ve been in the CMO space for quite a while, and somehow I’ve landed with a lot of intimate apparel clients. After 20 years in this space, I’ve noticed a few clear patterns in what makes brands succeed — even in such a crowded market. Here’s what I see the best brands doing consistently: 1️⃣ Great content that tells a story It’s not just ads — it’s the way they unfold the brand narrative across every single channel, and how it all connects. 2️⃣ True omni-channel presence Success doesn’t come from D2C or B2B alone. The strongest brands have both: a direct-to-consumer engine and a wholesale/B2B strategy that reinforce each other. 3️⃣ Hero products that drive the business They’ve mastered the 80/20 rule: 80% of sales come from 20% of products. They know their heroes, double down, and differentiate around them. Even though intimate apparel is crowded, there’s plenty of room for success — and I’m proud of each of my clients who continue to carve their own path. They’re proving that with the right content, strategy, and focus, growth is possible. 👏 Cheers to all the brands killing it in this space. #CMO #IntimateApparel #BrandStrategy #ContentMarketing #OmniChannel #HeroProducts #MarketTrends #BusinessGrowth #FashionIndustry #EcommerceSuccess