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The news: Target is testing a factory-direct shipping model that would enable it to offer lower-cost products to customers, per Bloomberg. The model, which lets suppliers ship products directly to shoppers, closely resembles the strategy used by Temu and Shein to keep prices low. Our take: Unfortunately for Target, now is not the best time to increase its reliance on overseas suppliers. While the Temu-Shein model worked spectacularly well for several years, the conditions that fueled their growth鈥攏amely, the de minimis exemption and low tariffs鈥攁re no longer in place.

And Vice President-elect JD Vance said on the campaign trail that he would explore stricter regulations of D2C pharma advertising. Bills to restrict or prohibit D2C drug ads have been introduced in the past yet typically lacked support from GOP lawmakers. But if a Republican-led administration pushes for a ban, previously hesitant members of Congress could be swayed.

Bringing sexy back: Victoria鈥檚 Secret has been playing defense for a few years as D2C brands like Parade and celebrity-backed labels like Fenty took the limelight. But the company recently reinserted itself back into the cultural conversation thanks to a familiar playbook.

Meanwhile, WBD鈥檚 Max and Discovery+ platforms added 6.4 million global subscribers, contributing to the company鈥檚 first full year of direct-to-consumer profitability. However, WBD is pulling live sports and CNN from its ad-supported tier, which could challenge user retention. Traditional TV鈥檚 decline is accelerating the industry鈥檚 restructuring.

On today鈥檚 podcast episode, we discuss how department stores are getting on, how they鈥檙e evolving, and what the contemporary department store needs to do to stick around. Listen to the conversation with our Senior Analyst Sara Lebow as she hosts Vice President of Content Suzy Davidkhanian and Senior Analyst Carina Perkins.

Evolve Bank & Trust dropped Synapse as a partner in 2022 to work directly with a D2C fintech but was still stung by its own failures. In June, Evolve was slapped with a Fed enforcement action due to alleged extensive safety and soundness shortfalls distinct from its tie-up with Synapse.

So this is early on in the D2C days and I just looked at it and I said, "Look, there is something promising here, but the way this is being executed, it's not going to work. We can fix it. I think this has got potential, but we have to do some things before this launches because this will fail straight out the gate.". You didn't know what to do.

I think they reserve those for their D2C channels, and for their fans. Zak Stambor (09:54):. And they have so many products that it's pretty easy for them to segment, "We sell these things to this retailer and we save these things for our own stores.". Sara Lebow (10:05):. Yeah, those things being specific IP.

High-income consumers are more likely to discover new brands or products in-store, but they typically make the final purchase online.

Platforms with diverse advertiser bases across sectors are likely to fare better, while those heavily exposed to D2C or imported goods may experience increased volatility. In the short term, expect recalibrations in spend, even as long-term digital transformation trends continue to support the medium's overall stability.

While this allows pro sports franchises to launch their own D2C streaming services and put games on free over-the-air stations to reach more viewers, it has created uncertainty over their TV revenues. For a moment, it looked like Diamond鈥檚 RSNs would be made available in Prime Video after Amazon decided to invest in the company as it emerged from bankruptcy.

While luxury brands prefer to engage via D2C channels, they may be leaving money on the table by undervaluing the channels where shoppers are most likely to make purchases. Luxury brands have generally shied away from developing broadly accessible loyalty programs, preferring to focus their efforts on one-to-one clienteling with their top-spending customers.

Similarly, traditional CPG companies continue to spend heavily on social media to compete with D2C and white-label players. The link between display and video advertising is tight. The industry ranking for display as a share of social roughly replicates the industry ranking of video as a share of digital ad spend. The correlation between display and video is much higher than between mobile and search.

This is the first installment of our 鈥淩etail and Ecommerce Sales Benchmarks鈥� series, which helps retailers calibrate their sales mix against the market.

This is the first installment of our 鈥淩etail and Ecommerce Sales Benchmarks鈥� series, which helps retailers calibrate their sales mix against the market.

This is the first installment of our 鈥淩etail and Ecommerce Sales Benchmarks鈥� series, which helps retailers calibrate their sales mix against the market.

This is the first installment of our 鈥淩etail and Ecommerce Sales Benchmarks鈥� series, which helps retailers calibrate their sales mix against the market.

This is the first installment of our 鈥淩etail and Ecommerce Sales Benchmarks鈥� series, which helps retailers calibrate their sales mix against the market.