![To be in store or not, the dilemma of brands born on the Internet To be in store or not, the dilemma of brands born on the Internet](https://media.lesechos.com/api/v1/images/view/6645a1181f6d462d1c5c28b6/1280x720/01101084417897-web-tete.jpg)
In start-up jargon, we call them “DNVBs” (digital native vertical brands): brands born on the Internet have proliferated over the last decade, synonymous with the spectacular growth of e-commerce. But, like Joone, a manufacturer of diapers and swimming pool diapers born in 2017, these brands are no longer just digital.
In 2022, Joone entered around a hundred Monoprix stores, a chain popular with the middle and upper classes. The brand was then distributed in pharmacies, which have well-stocked baby sections.
Today, a new step has been reached: Joone has signed an agreement with Carrefour, one of the largest French distributors, to sell its range of products there. “We will enter more than 1,200 stores,” explains Carole Juge-Llewellyn, its founder.
The choice of omnichannel
Should we see this as a denial for this start-up which, initially, bet on a subscription model with home delivery? The manager refutes this idea and sees, on the contrary, complementarity. “There are people who are reluctant to subscribe, even if it is without commitment,” she explains.
By linking its destiny to Carrefour, Joone will cover the French territory more widely and expose itself to a more socially diverse clientele. To begin this shift, the start-up opened a warehouse dedicated solely to retail. If the mayonnaise takes hold, it could, in the future, be exported more easily outside the French borders since the group led by Alexandre Bompard operates in Spain, Italy, Brazil, etc.
Today, it is quite common for DNVBs to sell through multiple channels. The illusion that everything could be done online has taken its toll. The acquisition costs of digital marketing are expensive. Which poses even more of a problem when funding in the sector dries up. Distributors also benefit from this since they can offer new brands to their customers.
A not always winning choice
But this kind of partnership is not an absolute guarantee of success. 900.care, a hygiene brand which has just raised 21 million euros, experienced this at Monoprix in 2021. “We stayed in store for a year, then we stopped,” confides its co-founder, Aymeric Barn .
With hindsight, he judges that his start-up suffered from a lack of notoriety. He also believes that his products were poorly suited to being put on shelves: 900.care markets a toothpaste in a tablet or a shampoo in the form of a stick which must be dissolved in water by the consumer. Enough to confuse consumers.
Born online, Angell, Marc Simoncini’s electric bike brand, chose, shortly after its creation, to also be sold at FNAC-Darty. But the start-up has backtracked and now wants to be distributed in hand-picked stores, where the sellers are familiar with the specificities of its machines.
Live shopping planned
To expand their audience, DNVBs are opting for other strategies. In 2023, the men’s fashion brand Asphalte, for example, opened a boutique in the Marais in Paris for 4 weeks. Its founder, William Hauvette, indicates that “20,000 customers” have visited it.
“It’s interesting to arrive in retail when you have an already known brand,” explains Carole Juge-Llewellyn. Joone is already followed by more than 110,000 people on Instagram.
An Internet presence on which the manager intends to continue to capitalize. For its launch at Carrefour, Carole Juge-Llewellyn has planned a “live shopping” event which will be broadcast in June on the Carrefour e-commerce site. We won’t do it again.
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