First order rarely pays
For most D2C categories the first purchase breaks even at best. The business is made on the second and third — which means retention, email and WhatsApp flows matter as much as the top of the funnel. Agencies that only run acquisition are optimising half a business and reporting it as the whole thing.
Creative volume is the growth constraint
Once tracking is clean and the offer works, the ceiling on a D2C account is how fast new creative enters it. Ads fatigue, audiences saturate, and the only reliable fix is more swings. 15–20 fresh assets a month is the operating rhythm we build around.
Marketplace and D2C should not be rivals
Amazon brings volume and discovery; your own site brings margin and the customer relationship. Run together, the marketplace can fund acquisition while the site compounds lifetime value. Run as competing internal teams, they cannibalise each other on price.
Scaling is an inventory decision too
Doubling spend on a product that goes out of stock in ten days destroys the account's learning and your reviews. Media planning has to sit alongside what the warehouse can actually ship — a conversation most agencies avoid because it isn't their scope.