How DTC Brands See The Purpose Of Stores

The days of pure-play retail are in the rearview mirror for digitally native brands. Over the next five years, the burgeoning cohort of direct-to-consumer companies could open up to 850 stores. But don’t expect them to serve the same purpose as, say, a Macy’s, Target or Walmart. For companies like Casper, MM.LaFleur and Indochino, stores are just one piece of a much larger picture, and oftentimes an educational tool, executives from all three companies said Tuesday during the Future Stores Miami 2019 conference. Unburdened by the kind of legacy philosophy that drove many retailers to rapidly overexpand their store footprints in the 1990s and early 2000s, these companies take a carefully curated approach to building stores. Read more at Retail Dive.