Transforming Digital Retail with DTC Friday

  • By Elizabeth Radziul
  • in ,
  • on November 21, 2019

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday heavy on consumers’ minds, former Google sales chief turned entrepreneur, Tim Armstrong, has added another day of shopping to the list this holiday season. It’s called DTC Friday, and it occurs 2 weeks before Black Friday, falling on November 15th this year. According to an official statement released by Armstrong’s company, the dtx company, “DTC Friday is the first national shopping holiday that celebrates and empowers the DTC movement by connecting shoppers with direct-to-consumer brands and with their favorite charities”.

The holiday is complete with a charitable incentive; $5 for every purchase made at a participating company on DTC Friday will be donated to a charity of the customer’s choice. Armstrong hopes the charitable element and rallied support for the DTC community will be enough to compete with the steals offered by the biggest retail giants.

The question this new holiday poses is whether it will spark other companies to rethink their current distribution strategies. Ben Hordell, a partner of DXagency, has high hopes for the new shopping holiday, according to an interview with Marketing Dive. He foresees the Cyber Monday spinoff becoming a “virtual mall” of sorts, provided that DTX continues to bring in good companies with similar values. The DTC movement seems to be somewhat of a foolproof marketing venture for brands that already sell directly to consumers, as joining the movement comes at no cost to the companies themselves. Participating brands are not even required to offer discounts on DTC Friday; joining can be as simple as adding the brand name to the DTC website. This movement is all about creating a community of similar, non-competitive brands that challenges the “one-stop-shop” approach to online shopping revolutionized by Amazon. This allows each company to gain exposure, monitor its own brand image, and boost website traffic.

Armstrong cites Nike as an example of a company that has pulled its products from Amazon in order to sell directly to consumers. Last week, Nike confirmed that it would end a two year pilot between Nike and Amazon that aimed to limit the number of counterfeit Nike products in circulation. Nike agreed to sell a select assortment through Amazon- after years of refusing any deal with the online retail giant- in exchange for stricter counterfeit enforcement. However, after two years of testing this agreement, Nike has decided to end the deal in order to focus on upgrading the customer experience through more direct interaction with customers, both in Nike stores and on the brand’s website. Nike will not be joining the DTC movement any time soon, though. A Nike spokeswoman told CNBC that the brand will “continue to invest in strong, distinctive partnerships for Nike with other retailers and platforms to seamlessly serve our consumers globally.”

While major brands like Nike have not fully committed to the DTC community just yet, it’s only a matter of time before more and more brands decide to part ways with large retailers and online platforms. With so many competitors in the market and deals becoming harder and harder to beat, consumer experience is becoming the differentiating factor. The direct-to-consumer startups participating in DTC Friday are already on their way to forming personal and direct relationships with their consumers, but if Tim Armstrong’s new retail holiday is going to become a mainstream event next holiday season, some more well-known brands, like Nike, may need to follow their lead.

Transformational Retail AssemblyRetail Marketing

C-Level experts from across North America’s retail industry are coming together in Las Vegas in March to anticipate the highly complex digital retail environment that will develop over the next few years.

Through a cutting-edge program designed by the industry, for the industry, we will provide a fresh and up-to-date insight to help move your organization to the next level of digital leadership. A series of executive education roundtables, keynote presentations, collaborative think tanks, educational workshops, and networking sessions will offer industry-specific topics and trends to ensure your company sustains its competitive advantage.

Are you interested in becoming a sponsor for this event? Click here today to learn more >>

Are you interested in attending this event? Inquire here today to find out if you qualify for Millennium Membership >>

Leave a Reply
PUBLISHED BY Elizabeth Radziul

View all posts by Elizabeth Radziul

Related Posts
Looking to
Sponsor?

Reach thousands of C-Level
Executives every month.

Next Request More Information
Become a Guest
Contributor

Do you have content that you feel will
resonate with our audience? We'd love to
welcome you as a guest contributor!

Next Contact Digital Diary
Lovin’ Digital
Diary?

Premium content to our readers
interested in all things business.

Next Subscribe Now
Check Us Out!

Millennium Membership offers Fortune 1000 C-Level executives, leading public sector/government officials, and thought leaders across a variety of disciplines unique and exclusive opportunities to meet their peers, understand industry developments, and receive introductions to new technology and service advancements to help grow their career and overall company value.

Next About Millenium Alliance
team
About Digital Diary
The go-to source for all things digital transformation.

Launched in 2017, Digital Diary was created to provide premium content to our members interested in executive education and business transformation. With C-Suite executive and top academic contributors, interviews with industry leaders, and digital transformation insights from technology experts, Digital Diary has all of the professional development tools you need to stay ahead of the curve.

Meaningful Opportunities
Leadership skills at every level

We are dedicated to distributing meaningful opportunities for our reader to increase their personal knowledge, simplify business initiatives, and to have the right information to build their capabilities and leadership skills at every level.

team
Millennium Alliance Membership

In the midst of disruption across all industries, our members are given the tools they need to digitally transform their organizations.

 
What does it mean to be a
Millennium Member?
Joining Mill All is an opportunity unlike any other to connect with the best professionals in your industry and be a part of a community to become the best leader you can be.

Interested in Learning More?

Reach out to us or
keep learning
arrow Check Out Our Events
Next Check Out Our Community Dinners
Next Check Out Digital Diary