Direct-to-consumer brands – household names like HelloFresh, Peloton, Allbirds, Stitch Fix, Warby Parker and Rent the Runway, which cut out traditional retailers, wholesalers and other middlemen – have been falling.
Investors shied away from high-growth stocks and retreated into companies with solid fundamentals and, most importantly, lots of profit.
The problem is that none of these direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies have managed to make the transition to profitability themselves.
Rent the Runway was down $114 million, and mattress company Purple lost about $121 million.
Other companies, like SmileDirectClub, which went public in 2019, and Winc, a wine subscription company that went public in 2021, have declared bankruptcy.
Persons:
Allbirds, Warby Parker, don’t, they’ll, ”, Ben Cogan, they’ve, Cogan, Casper, “, it’s, Sesame, Michael Botta, Tesla, Chris Isidore, Elon
Organizations:
New, New York CNN, Agora, CNN, Hubble, Venture, “, Companies, Wonder Group, Durational Capital Management, Costco, Western, Tesla
Locations:
New York