Channel Strategy that Builds Brands, and Sales
For consumer brands, where you sell can matter as much as what you sell.
Brick and mortar, direct-to-consumer, and Amazon each offer unique opportunities—but also trade-offs. And while you don’t need to be everywhere, how you show up in each channel can either build long-term brand value or quietly chip away at it.
If you're thinking about how to grow without losing what makes your brand special, this piece shares what I’ve learned about managing multi-channel strategies—from DTC to retail shelves to Amazon.
Can a brand succeed without all three legs of the stool? Absolutely. But before ruling out any channel, it’s worth thinking about how your end-user shops and where your brand needs to be to meet their expectations. Creating a mix of retail avenues tailored to your consumer’s shopping habits increases access to your brand and provides a palette for relevant marketing activities and brand storytelling.
As a marketing partner to the sales team and the leader of the direct-to-consumer effort at Superfeet, we were in constant conversations about how to best serve our end-users and how to set each retail channel up for success. We were lucky to have highly engaged retail partners who had strong opinions on what they needed to be successful. By carefully managing each channel with the bigger picture in mind, we were able to deliver steady growth across all three channels, resulting in brand resilience and increased reach.
Looking back, there were some core principles that helped us organize our energy into a successful growth strategy—and a few things I wish I’d known earlier when I started managing our e-com team.
Have a point of view on the role each retail channel plays for building your brand
I like to think of traditional retail as an awareness engine, DTC as a brand hub and loyalty driver, and Amazon as a convenience play and volume opportunity. With a clear point of view on the purpose of each channel, you can tailor assortment, advertising, promotions, and messaging specifically for the role each channel plays—providing shoppers with easy decision-making and an intentional brand experience while deliberately using each channel to add to your brand strength.
Understand how to maximize the value of each channel to deliver the best consumer experience
Traditional retail immerses the end-user, framing your product against a backdrop of related products in a curated shopping experience. It offers personal touch and a path to trusted recommendations. Shoppers who seek out a physical retail environment are often there for community and expert advice. Help retailers elevate this experience with premium product, staff training, retail displays, and promotional dollars—so your retailers can do what they do best: create community and provide expert advice on what their shoppers need to achieve their goals. Traditional retail drives discovery.
A brand website is an opportunity to provide a comprehensive brand experience with the widest product range, deep product and brand information, and easy access to customer service. Make your site sticky and build engagement opportunities throughout the shopping experience. Your branded website is the place where you own the consumer journey—and where you can collect the data needed to establish direct consumer connections and build lasting relationships with your end-users. Your website is your brand home.
Amazon is the convenient path to purchase. It provides reach in a shopping environment that has high buyer trust—but it comes with limited control over your brand experience. Offer your highest volume products on Amazon and don’t overwhelm shoppers with too many nuanced choices. By keeping your focus tight, you create the opportunity to focus your on-platform marketing and advertising efforts drive the maximum number of eyeballs, and reduce the number of decisions a person needs to make between browsing and purchase. Amazon can be a very important sales channel, but it is not a substitute for an owned brand experience or the authenticity of brick and mortar.
Consistency is key
Regardless of where your products are being sold, use consistent brand language and imagery, keep your pricing consistent, and build banks of positive consumer reviews. Variations in product names and prices create confusion that can lose the sale.
Know what you expect each channel to deliver & establish that structure early
You don’t have to be everywhere. But if you're going to be in multiple places, do it with intention. It’s easier to take the time to plan than to roll back a channel. Your website isn’t a mini-Amazon. Amazon isn’t your homepage. Retailers aren’t just extensions of your sales team.
Aligning sales and marketing around your channel strategy provides a map for making smart investments of brand resources. Affirm your channel strategy during your annual planning period to create clarity, discipline, and to drive proactive decision-making. Set goals by channel, not just in aggregate. And don’t get distracted by top-line revenue if the margins or brand equity are getting squeezed.
The brands that get it right aren’t chasing growth at all costs.
They’re making deliberate decisions—channel by channel—to serve the consumer in the best possible way, protect their values, their customer relationships, and their bottom line.
