The Ultimate D2C Defense Stack

Running a D2C is hard work... but it's also a lot of fun. We get to innovate with product development, launch innovative websites, design sleek identities and sell across large geographies - all at an accelerated rate. It's exciting!

But once things start going up and to the right, we have to remember to be diligent. We must remember the hard work that it took to create a business that stands tall amongst others, and we must protect that hard work.

To do that - there are offense tactics, but also defense tactics. The offense tactics are such as launching new products, expanding reach, forming new partnerships etc but I want to focus on the defense tactics, and specifically highlight 3 tools that can help you "defend" your hard earned territory. Introducing.... "The Defense Stack for D2C".

The stack consists of 3 tools: Accessibe, Enzuzo & Rewind. I'll give a quick overview of each and why you might want to consider them for your business.

accessibe: Accessibility

As the name might suggest, this is an accessibility tool. An "accessible" site is one that is digitally accessible to people with disabilities. And with D2C success, it's important to consider making your site accessible for ethical reasons but also purely for financial reasons: Netalico Commerce recently reported that D2C businesses with as little as $1M/year in revenue have been "forced to settle with plaintiffs for 6-figure amounts lawsuits."

accesiBe solves for this risk with an automated web accessibility solution for ADA and WCAG Compliance (web content accessibility guidelines). It takes 2 minutes to install and is used by D2C brands of all sizes from Chubbies & Mezcla, a young & growing D2C plant based snack brand with 16 employees.

Enzuzo: Privacy

Privacy-wise the world of D2C is a bit of a minefield. One day - Europe decides to advance strict privacy rules via GDPR, another it's California with their CCPA laws and the following it's Apple with iOS changes to prevent misuse of data. In theory it's all for the better good of society - but it's undeniably tricky for the nimble D2Cs that rely on customer data to move swiftly and take down giants. Inevitably, there have been countless faux-pas in eCommerce, and the fines have been ruthless: Amazon was imposed an $867m fine for violating GDPR, and H&M was recently fined $41.3m over employee surveillance.

Enuzo solves for this with a data privacy solution that allows ecommerce businesses to create, customize and launch privacy tools such as cookie widgets and legal policies that keep your D2C within the law, globally. To be clear, Enzuzo does not address accessibility - instead it ensures that a website is legally compliant with GDPR, CCPA, LGPD, and other privacy laws worldwide. Easily automate customer privacy requests (also known as DSARs) like data deletion and unsubscribe requests. Enzuzo also automatically keeps their online businesses privacy policies up-to-date so D2Cs like Plant Fuel & Oru Kayak are always in the clear.

Rewind: Backups

This is actually remarkably frequent. Lots and lots of D2Cs (many of which are Rewind customers) have gone through an "Oh crap" moment with regards to their data. We've all personally been there with files / documents that don't get backed up to our cloud, but this happens in the world of D2C too. More descriptively, Shopify & BigCommerce data doesn't always get backed up. Sometimes when your internet goes out, files get overwritten, or CSV uploads go sideways, D2Cs lose all of the data associated with their store. Customer data, product data, custom code, assets, etc - all of that data can disappear with one tiny mistake.

That's what Rewind solves for. And again, often they come in after a disastrous situation - but more and more, D2Cs like Gymshark & Knix are becoming aware that this a real threat to their business - and proactively leverage Rewind. They say defense makes the best offense, and it's especially true here. There won't be an offense without data. So backup your data, and then talk about offense.

That's it - that's the "Ultimate D2C Defense Stack". Now go out there and hit'em with both sensational offense and rock steady defense. And remember to have fun!