D2C
These episodes are about which channel a consumer brand should sell through: its own online shop, Amazon or retail, and what that means for margins, customer data and repeat purchases. Marlena Hien (Bears with Benefits), Max Wittrock (mymuesli, zeroLabs), Jenni Baum-Minkus (gitti) and Dr. Vivien Karl explain how they made that decision and what they would do differently today.
The guests agree that retail only makes sense once a brand has built demand beforehand. Jenni Baum-Minkus calls it the pull effect, Vivien Karl has turned down drugstore offers for that reason, and Charlotte Küppers and Sherin Maruhn (LOOSH) warn that without brand awareness you get delisted fast. They disagree on where to start: Max Wittrock advises beginning with D2C, while Marlena Hien started on Amazon and says retail and Amazon make her more profit than her own shop. Fabian Huber (SUPER POP) sells drinks almost entirely through retail because shipping does not work with low-value goods.
The episodes are useful if you are launching a consumer brand or deciding right now whether to go into retail. You get concrete numbers on marketing costs, basket sizes and repeat rates, plus the rules by which buyers and shelves work.
Start with these episodes
Marlena Hien built her channels in the order Amazon, retail, own shop and explains why D2C did not have the best margin for her.
Max Wittrock deliberately launches zeroLabs online, tests the price with Gabor-Granger and uses post-purchase surveys against the attribution problem.
Jenni Baum-Minkus launched gitti through Instagram and drops and gives three rules for when a D2C brand belongs on the shelf.
Fabian Huber shows the opposite case: drinks sell in retail, not in an online shop, and explains how to reach buyers.
Dr. Vivien Karl makes 80 percent of revenue in her own shop, turns down drugstore offers and reaches a 55 percent repeat rate.
Diana zur Löwen uses artem oral care to show how bundles lift the basket and how self-made ads carry customer acquisition on Meta.
What you take away from the episodes
- 1
D2C does not automatically have the best margin
At Bears with Benefits, retail and Amazon make more profit than the own shop because there are hardly any marketing, logistics and payment costs. In D2C, Marlena Hien says, you are a rock star at 35 percent marketing costs; 50 percent or more is realistic.
from: 60 million in revenue, 10 countries, one exit - 2
Start online, retail pays the interest later
Max Wittrock advises starting a consumer brand with D2C as a rule and building the brand online, because the payoff comes later mainly in retail. At zeroLabs he therefore works with a small team and a business angel round of a few hundred thousand euros until positioning and copywriting are right.
from: Why would you leave an eight-figure company after 12 years? - 3
Only go on the shelf when you can sell through
Jenni Baum-Minkus gives three rules for retail: you need a pull effect built beforehand through D2C, the product has to be understood on the shelf without the founder story, and retail is a partnership in which you give up revenue. gitti waited a long time and is now at Douglas.
from: A TV record, millions in funding & the comeback - 4
Lift the basket with sets and bundles
A single toothpaste does not cover shipping, so artem sells in sets and bundles, says Diana zur Löwen. If you know a customer spends more, you can afford higher acquisition costs on Meta, where cost per customer rises once your fans are used up.
from: How I would launch a consumer brand in 2026 - 5
Stay D2C while you are still learning about your customers
At Dr. Vivien Karl, 80 percent of revenue comes through the own shop and about 10 percent through Amazon. The team turned down drugstore retail offers because the brand should first be strong enough to create pull, and because customer data is the most valuable asset until then.
from: From an intimate cream to a million-euro brand - 6
Drinks belong in retail, not in your shop
SUPER POP sells almost only through retail, says Fabian Huber: six cans bring in roughly 9 euros, plus shipping, picking and a box for around 6 kilos. In the own shop a can is therefore sometimes more expensive than in retail, where it should cost between 1.59 and 1.69 euros.
from: The secret behind 3 million cans sold - 7
Design your packaging for the Amazon thumbnail
Marlena Hien placed the Bears with Benefits packaging directly into Amazon search results and adjusted it until it stood out as a thumbnail and the ingredient was legible in the first second. Because 10,000 micrograms of biotin was an important long-tail keyword, the product was even developed around that dosage.
from: 60 million in revenue, 10 countries, one exit
Quotes from the episodes
„Weil wer hat denn eigentlich die Marge? Meta hat die Marge, Influencer haben die Marge““Because who actually has the margin? Meta has the margin, influencers have the margin.”
„Bewerte nie eine Entscheidung mit Informationen, die du später bekommen hast.““Never judge a decision with information you only received later.”
„Aber irgendwo hinzugehen und zu sagen, das was anscheinend mein Lebenspurpose ist, zu verbessern, ist Nagellack, war lange Zeit super, super schwierig.““But going somewhere and saying that what is apparently my life's purpose to improve is nail polish was really, really hard for a long time.”
„… wir sehen sie jetzt weniger als Testimonial, sondern eher als Sparingspartner.““We see her less as a testimonial and more as a sparring partner.”
All 15 episodes on d2c
FAQ
Is D2C or retail more profitable?
It depends on the product. Marlena Hien says retail and Amazon make more profit for Bears with Benefits than the own shop, because in D2C Meta and influencers eat the margin. Fabian Huber sells SUPER POP almost only through retail because drinks are heavy and low in value. Max Wittrock argues the opposite: a consumer brand should usually start online, and retail pays the interest later.
When should a D2C brand go into retail?
According to Jenni Baum-Minkus, only once you have a pull effect, the product is understood on the shelf without the founder story, and you are willing to give up revenue to the partner. Dr. Vivien Karl has turned down drugstore offers so far for that reason: getting in is easy, staying in is not. Marlena Hien says much the same, that getting into retail is easier than ever and staying there harder than ever.
How high are marketing costs for a D2C brand?
Marlena Hien calls 35 percent marketing costs in D2C a rock star figure and says 50 percent or more is realistic. Diana zur Löwen explains why artem therefore sells in sets and bundles: only a higher basket makes customer acquisition on Meta affordable. At Dr. Vivien Karl, 55 percent of customers buy again within twelve months, which puts acquisition costs into perspective.
How do I find a product for my own consumer brand?
Diana zur Löwen looks in drugstores for dusty shelves where the same corporations have sold the same products for decades without design or new ingredients, such as oral care or detergent. Roman Kirsch looks for an analogy in another category: the supplement market reminded him of the beauty market five or six years earlier, where premium brands found room after the white-label brands. Chanyu Xu recommends products that keep for a long time and make logistics easy.