👟 How online brands are getting screwed

PLUS: Bitcoin tattoos are in style ‘cause of course they are. March 28, 2022 [The Hustle] This week we’re running a giveaway with a twist. Readers who share The Hustle using their unique link will be entered into a raffle for $1k Amazon gift cards (we’ve got 10 of ‘em). 📣The twist: Each referral gets you one ticket, but once you hit 3, your count doubles (doubles!). Here’s a calculator for reference: 1 referral = 1 ticket, 2 referrals = 2 tickets, 3 = 6, 4 = 8, etc. More info below. In today’s email: - Ouch: Why D2C might be f*cked. - Chart: Bitcoin tattoos are trending ‘cause of course they are. - By the numbers: T. rex money, new car prices, Mars, and more. - Around the web: The 1st sci-fi convention, 3D design apps, the chillest monkey, and more cool internet finds. 🎧 On the go? [Listen to today’s 10-minute podcast]( to hear about Biden’s billionaire tax, Spotify’s economics, absolutely bonkers prehistoric and digital art sales, online brands’ big problem, and more. The big idea [D2C gif]( Are D2C companies f*cked? If you’re reading this through a pair of Warby Parker glasses in the comfort of your Allbirds, you’re likely aware of the rapid rise of direct-to-consumer internet brands. But as Sir Isaac Newton famously said, “What goes up, must come down.” And for a variety of factors, those same companies are experiencing the back end of that equation. What’s going on? According to Marker’s [Alex Kantrowitz](, the D2C model is promising when costs are kept low. Without physical stores, companies used cheap Facebook ads to build brand recognition, ad tracking to pinpoint customers, and low-cost shipping to make deliveries. Now, what were once perceived as strengths have become weaknesses: - Facebook ad prices have tripled in the last 2 years. Warby Parker IPO’d with 13% brand awareness, and it’s one of the more well-known D2C companies. With pricier Facebook ads, the uphill battle for name recognition is even more painful. - Apple’s iOS 14.5 update forced apps to comply with its Ad Tracking Transparency (ATT) framework, which requires advertisers to ask permission to track users’ activity. This makes it harder to measure Facebook ad performance. One expert claims Meta’s attribution metrics — user actions that can be attributed to an ad — are now off by 30%-50%. This has led companies to spend more, often with worse results. - Supply chain challenges have jacked up import costs. The price to ship a container from China to the US has risen from $2k to $15k since the beginning of the pandemic. On top of all that, rising interest rates have pushed investors toward profitable businesses — which many D2C players… are not. What’s next? In 2022, Allbirds stock is down 63%, while Warby Parker and D2C clothing pioneer Stitch Fix are down 40%+. Some D2C companies will be fine. Chewy, for instance, can justify its costs due to the predictability of its customers’ lifetime value (the lifespan of a pet). Others may have to diversify beyond Meta’s platform. TikTok is one place that’s already moving toward [in-app commerce](. If that fails, there’s also the good ol’ fashioned option of [opening a physical store](. (Kids 10 years from now: “Ew.”) [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Are+D2C+companies+f*cked%3F%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F03282022-D2C%3Futm_campaign%3DD2C%26utm_content%3D03282022-D2C%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( SNIPPETS Tax time: President Biden’s forthcoming tax [proposal]( would set a minimum 20% tax rate for US households worth $100m+. If adopted, it would generate ~$360B over the next 10 years. Weird: Oscar nominees [received]( gift bags worth $137k+, containing liposuction vouchers, life coaching sessions, and Scottish nobility titles (which are mostly fake — we wrote about them [here](). Yikes: Former TikTok content moderators are suing parent company ByteDance, saying it [failed]( to support them after they viewed “unfiltered, disgusting and offensive content.” Unmasked: Several airline CEOs [want]( the White House to let passengers fly sans masks, partly due to the toll that enforcing masks takes on flight attendants. Strike: ~47k California grocery workers repped by 7 unions [authorized]( a potential strike. Union officials want a $5/hour wage increase, plus better safety standards and hours. --------------------------------------------------------------- Hey — enjoy getting quick updates on what you care about? Take [20 seconds]( to personalize your Snippets. Pick your preferences👇 and we’ll send you more of what you love. Boom. [Personalize my Email →]( Oy vey [search volume for crypto tattoos]( Selina Lee Move over, mom — the hot new tattoo trend is… crypto? Well, this is something. Google and Instagram searches for crypto tattoos — including Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and Ethereum — surged 222% in the last 12 months, according to data from Crypto Head [obtained]( by Benzinga. Although, [per]( Google Trends, searches for “bitcoin tattoo” peaked in late 2017 to early 2018. Around that same time, dancers at a Las Vegas strip club began [accepting]( crypto tips via temporary tattoos. Hmm! Bitcoin remains the front-runner today when it comes to specific tokens, raking in 1.9k average monthly Google searches compared to Dogecoin’s 700 and Ethereum’s 500. So, what do these tats look like? Oh, a [Shiba Inu]( here, a [rocket]([“to the moon”]( there, and this very detailed [bull](. But most are variations of Bitcoin’s “B” logo, including [more]( than [one]( featuring notorious miser Scrooge McDuck. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Move+over%2C+mom+%E2%80%94+the+hot+new+tattoo+trend+is%E2%80%A6+crypto%3F%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F03282022-crypto-tattoos%3Futm_campaign%3DD2C%26utm_content%3D03282022-crypto-tattoos%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( Free Resource ‘Conversation intelligence’ for sales and support teams AKA the new lane of using artificial intelligence software to reap the most insights from customer sales and support conversations. Surprise. Think: keyword tracking, best-practice sharing, easier coaching, smoother onboarding, CRM integration… We can talk dirtier. There are slick new use cases emerging as AI becomes more and more accessible for modern businesses. Tools created by Dialpad + HubSpot can help you [enhance call recording, transcription, and analysis](. Featured in the Conversation Intelligence Guide: - An overview of conversation intelligence - Squeezing insights from conversational data - Optimizing sales calls and support transcripts - Navigating new hybrid work challenges - A tide of tips for effective coaching Learn more about softwares that spruce up sales and support dialogue. [How teams talk smarter →]( By the numbers [T. rex]( A dino in Dubai? (Damir Babacic / Unsplash) Digits: T. rex money, new cars, Mars, and more 1) A 39-foot South Dakotan T. rex skeleton, which seemingly vanished after being purchased by an anonymous buyer in October 2020 [for $31.8m](, has resurfaced. It was reportedly shipped to the UAE for display in the Natural History Museum Abu Dhabi… which reminds us of the whole $276k Nic Cage Mongolian [fossil debacle](. 2) In February, the average price of a new car in the US was $46,085, [up $4.7k]( from a year prior. Aside from inflation and supply chain pressures, dealers are running up prices, with buyers paying $900+ above sticker price (compared to $1.5k below a year ago.) 3) After heading to Mars with a 5-flight mission, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter recently completed its 22nd flight, staying afloat for [101.4 seconds]( and hitting 33 feet of altitude. Ingenuity has now flown a combined 15k+ feet for ~39 minutes. Not bad, NASA. 4) In 2021, there were [1,040 artists]( who earned $1m+ in Spotify royalties, up from 860 in 2020. There were 130 artists who made $5m+ on Spotify, 52.6k that made $10k+, and [238k+]( songs that got 1m+ streams. 5) An Andy Warhol portrait of Marilyn Monroe is expected to be auctioned in May [for $200m](. A friendly reminder that, in 2017, da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi was expected to go for $100m and ended up selling for $450.3m, so… Meanwhile, a CryptoPunk NFT could go for 5.5k ETH (~$17m), valued that high mostly because it’s [wearing]( a hoodie. [Share on Facebook]( [Share on Twitter]( [Send as email to a friend](mailto:?subject=The%20Hustle%20wrote%20something%20I%20think%20you%27ll%20like...%0A&body=Digits%3A+T.+rex+money%2C+new+cars%2C+Mars%2C+and+more%0Ahttps%3A%2F%2Fthehustle.co%2F03282022-digits%3Futm_campaign%3DD2C%26utm_content%3D03282022-digits%26utm_medium%3Demail%26utm_source%3Ddaily%0A%0AYou%20can%20subscribe%20with%20my%20link%20here%20to%20get%20the%20latest%20in%20tech%20and%20business%20daily:%0A [View on our website]( AROUND THE WEB 🛫 On this day: In 1910, French engineer Henri Fabre became the 1st person to successfully fly a [seaplane](, including takeoff and landing. 👽 That’s interesting: In 1891, guests attended the [Vril-Ya Bazaar and Fête]( in London, supposedly the world’s 1st sci-fi convention. It was all about Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s Vril: The Power of The Coming Race, a novel about superhumans who lived underground. 😠How to: Know someone who seems irritable all the time (or maybe that’s you)? Here are some [helpful tips]( for a sunnier disposition. ✏️ Useful: [Spline]( is an app for designing, creating, and sharing in 3D. 🐒 Chill out: Need a break? [We got you](. Meme of the day [sneakers meme] The D2C strategy, explained eloquently. (Source: [imgflip.com]() Giveaway [10 $1k Amazon gift cards]( Enter the $1K gift card giveaway Want a shot at a $1k Amazon gift card? Great, we’ve got 10 of ‘em. Here’s what you need to do: - Step 1: Copy your personal referral link below. - Step 2: Share it with everyone you know before 11:59 pm EST on April 1, 2022. Give it to your mailman, your roommate, the more the merrier. Everyone that signs up through your link gets you 1 ticket in the raffle. And remember, once you hit 3 referrals, your ticket count doubles. - Step 3: Wait to see if you’re one of the 10 winners after April 1st! Your custom referral link: [ For official rules, please visit: [(. How did you like today’s email? Today's email was brought to you by [Jacob Cohen](, [Juliet Bennett Rylah](, [Rob Litterst](. Editing by: Jennifer “I will never buy Allbirds, ever” Wang. [PODCAST]( [JOBS]( [CONTACT US](mailto:news@thehustle.co) [Facebook]( [Youtube]( [Instagram]( [Trends]( 25 FIRST ST. 2ND FLOOR, CAMBRIDGE, MA 02141, UNITED STATES  +1 888 482 7768 Never want to hear from us again? Break our hearts and [unsubscribe](list=thehustle). [The Hustle](