How brands like Harry's and Glossier challenged the incumbents
The Drum, in partnership with Mailchimp, has launched A Guide for Growing Businesses to explore some of the issues small-to-medium size enterprises (SMEs) face today when it comes to business growth.
The Drum x Mailchimp's Guide for Growing Businesses
Brands such as Harry's, Dollar Shave Club and Glossier have been capturing consumers' admiration and beating legacy companies at growth.
Harry's started out trying to disrupt the legacy razor business. It has now been purchased by Edgewell Personal Care Company, the owner of Schick, in a cash-and-stock transaction that values Harry's at $1.37bn. Challenger brands are taking advantage of how the rise of technology has decreased the barriers for new consumer products to enter the marketplace, helping them thrive. Another example is Dollar Shave Club, which was acquired in 2016 for $1bn by Unilever. Or beauty brands Glossier and Rent the Runway, which have reached unicorn status (a valuation of $1bn or more). Amazon has been acquiring companies that were chipping away at its profits, like Zappos. Meanwhile, giant retailer Walmart bought two disruptor clothing companies in the past two years – Bonobos and Eloquii.
Brands need to fully understand the direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing model, be prepared to cut out the middleman and move away from traditional brand activation formats. It's what consumers seemingly want.
The guide takes a look at some of these SMEs that are taking on the incumbents.
To download the digital version of The Drum's Guide for Growing Businesses complete the form below.