After years of trying to grow an audience on their own, direct-to-consumer brands have a new strategy: Get into retailers.
Hallpass, a new low-sugar candy brand backed by David Protein owner Medici Brands, launched nationwide at Walmart last month. Elsewhere, personal care brand Curie recently rebranded its products for Walmart shoppers. And kids food brand Little Spoon will sell 50 products in Target stores by the end of the year, up from launching with 22 last year.
The shift reflects a new playbook for emerging brands as well as long established DTC brands that first had to build niche audiences of customers to justify landing a big distribution deal with the likes of Walmart, Target, and Costco.
