Scaling Up a DTC Brand with Orchid Bertelsen, COO at Common Thread Collective

This episode features an interview with Orchid Bertelsen. Orchid is the Chief Operating Officer at Common Thread Collective, an eCommerce growth agency. In this episode, Orchid talks about the three ways to grow, developing strategic partners, and how to do it all without losing the soul of your brand.Quotes*”There's no easier audience to sell to than people who have already bought from you, know that you exist, and like the product. And so if you want to sell more to your existing customer base, you can increase their lifetime value, either through your core offering and doing a subscription service, or you can continue to launch new products that are complementary to whatever you're selling.” *”There are some products that people just want to experience in person. There is a certain way to expand into the brick and mortar experience while still utilizing and connecting the digital experience to it, whether it's something simple, like your transactions in store being tied to your account online, and you get an email receipt. I think that is the challenge, is that retail space is obviously expensive. A lot of flagship stores in major city centers are loss leaders. That retail footprint isn’t actually generating a lot of revenue per square foot, but it’s just another marketing expense, having a physical manifestation of what the brand is beyond the website.” *”There was a boom in e-commerce overall during COVID. When you have different partners like Shopify or Sub Stack, you can bring your business idea to life very easily. What happens then is that you have a community that's just really focused on single-channel DTC. And they probably created a solution to solve a personal problem. But at a certain stage of growth, they’re like, ‘Hey, I can no longer sell to people like me with the same exact problem, because I've already reached all of them,’ which is a good problem to have. So over the course of the last two years, you've seen more mature e-commerce businesses try to go omni-channel.”Time Stamps*[0:05] The Case of Scaling Up a DTC Brand*[0:32] Introducing Orchid Bertelsen, COO at Common Thread Collective*[10:45] Evidence #1: Sales are single-channel*[17:40] Evidence #2: Hasn’t developed strategic sales partners*[20:44] Evidence #3: Has already saturated market*[34:16] Debrief*[35:28] HGS PubBioOrchid is the Chief Operating Officer of Common Thread Collective, an agency focused on helping ecommerce brands grow profitably, and entrepreneurs to achieve their dreams.Prior to joining CTC, Orchid Bertelsen was the Head of Consumer Experience Strategy & Innovation at Nestlé USA, where she evaluates and tests emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, voice assistance, AR/VR. She has a varied portfolio, made up of 40+ brands and includes beloved brands like Coffee-Mate, Toll House and DiGiorno. Nestlé is also a majority stakeholder in Blue Bottle Coffee and owns and operates Starbucks at Home.She lives in Hayes Valley with her husband and daughter, and loves to travel back to Taiwan, where her family is from.Thank you to our friendsThis podcast is brought to you by HGS. A global leader in optimizing the customer experience lifecycle, digital transformation, and business process management, HGS is helping its clients become more competitive every day. Learn more at hgs.cx.Links:Connect with Orchid on LinkedInFollow Orchid on TwitterCheck out Common Thread CollectiveConnect with Lyssa on LinkedInCheck out HGS