Retail Leaders Form Alliance in Pursuit of Common Goal: Define the Trajectory of Direct-to-Consumer Retail

DTC Collective Unites Executives from Estee Lauder, Oriental Trading Co., Jockey, Tamara Mellon, QVC, Brooks Brothers, Google, Bluecore and Others to Tackle Industry Issues Affecting Digital Commerce

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Today, the newly formed DTC Collective announces its launch as an industry think tank and unified change-driver, created for and by digital retail executives.

The new alliance was founded by retail leaders from companies including Tapestry, QVC, Jockey, Estee Lauder, Tamara Mellon and others. The growing group has come together to navigate industry-specific matters, including the external forces that influence the trajectory of digital retail’s evolution.

The DTC Collective was conceived by Fayez Mohamood, Co-Founder & CEO of retail technology company Bluecore, who works with more than 400 retail brands that sell direct-to-consumer. Its first gathering took place virtually in early Q2. Members openly shared otherwise behind-closed-doors strategies for dealing with the effects of the global pandemic, supply chain crisis and hard-hit economy.

On June 26th, the group reconvened for its second virtual gathering to discuss how holiday planning will shift in light of unpredictable store strategies and a mass migration to digital shopping channels. The result was the release of the new report: Retail Executives Explore How New Shopper Behaviors Will Influence the Digital-First Holiday Season

The DTC Collective’s founding members, listed alphabetically by company name, include:

• Belk, Richard Spencer, Group VP, IT, Ecommerce, Data and Applications
• Bluecore, Fayez Mohamood, CEO & Co-Founder
• Bluecore, Sherene Hilal, SVP Marketing & Operations
• Brooks Brothers, Mohit Gulrajani, SVP Omnichannel Strategy & Operations
• David’s Bridal, Callie Canfield, VP Marketing & Communications
• DXL Group, Ujjwal Dhoot, Chief Digital Officer
• Eddie Bauer, Mike Africa, VP Commerce
• Estee Lauder Companies, Doug Jensen, VP CRM & Corporate Marketing Analytics
• Google Cloud, Carrie Tharp, VP, Retail & Consumer
• Hammacher Schlemmer, Ann Marie Resnick, VP of Marketing, and Nick DiMarco, General Manager
• Jerome’s Furniture, Scott Perry, EVP Digital
• Jockey, Tim McCue, VP, Ecommerce and Digital Technology
• Lane Bryant, Eric Gohs, VP of Marketing Strategy
• NOBULL, Todd Meleney, VP of Marketing
• Oriental Trading Co., Dave Lokes, VP of Marketing
• QVC, Annette Dunleavy, VP Digital Commerce
• RTW Retailwinds, Tim Mack, Chief Digital Officer
• Tamara Mellon, Bryan Elliot, VP of Growth Marketing
• Tapestry, Roshan Varma, VP of Digital

The need for such an organization has become imperative over the last three years, during which the retail industry has witnessed–and been directly affected by–three force majeures in rapid succession: 1) The onset of GDPR in Europe, which sent retailers scrambling to comply with guidelines that weren’t designed in response to companies like theirs. 2) The ongoing elimination of third-party cookies by companies like Mozilla’s Firefox, Apple, and soon, Google. And 3), the onset of coronavirus, which expedited what many analysts had previously predicted would be a three-year journey to a 50-50 Online/Offline shift in retail.

Seemingly overnight, all retail business models–from traditional department stores and chain stores to digital natives–were suddenly operating on the same playing field for the first time in history.

The DTC Collective’s larger mandate is to set forth new approaches to operating in a fast-approaching all-DTC world. It seeks to guide the trajectory of digital retail by getting ahead of issues likely to affect ecommerce. The group believes it can affect industry-wide change by driving adoption of the following three tenets:

1. Retail Autonomy – In order to preserve retail’s autonomy and ability to influence the direction of the industry for itself, retailers must uphold the highest standards of conduct.
2. Policy Change – Change should come from retailers themselves, not external governing bodies.
3. Consumer Respect & Data Transparency – Retailers will hold consumer data in the utmost regard knowing that consumers’ reaction to industry or brand practices directly determine the trajectory of the industry and retail businesses. Retailers will do what they say they are going to do with data and nothing more.

After its first session, the Collective released its first industry report: “Retail Executives Navigate a Forever-Changed Consumer and an All-DTC World.”

To access the DTC Collective’s reports, find out more about the organization or to apply to attend an upcoming session, please visit the DTC Collective microsite.

About the DTC Collective

The DTC Collective is a community of retail executives that represent the intersecting interests of digital retailers and consumers in an increasingly data-driven, but decreasingly privacy-protected, world. Formed in 2020 and facilitated by retail technology company Bluecore, the group’s mandate is to set the standard for digital retail–and do things differently than in the past–as retail quickly approaches an all-DTC world. Through regular think tank-style sessions, the group will define the trajectory of the industry over the next decade and get ahead of issues and forces likely to affect retail as a whole.

Contacts

Kieran Powell

kieran.powell@bluecore.com