Learn How DTC Ecommerce Brands Grow Through Product Line Extensions

Bryan Karas

August 23, 2018

Harry’s, the direct-to-consumer (DTC) men’s razor brand, is expanding its product line with body wash and bar soap products. I guess Harry’s finally reached a point where they felt comfortable using their brand power to expand into new products…

To promote their new line of products they created an ad using rapper/actor Ludacris. In the ad, he’s reading a children’s book to his son, then he’s washing the dishes and rapping the rhymes and finally he’s shown “singing in the shower” using Harry’s new body wash.

Regardless of the awesomeness that is Ludacris and what he brings to the Harry’s brand the important lesson here is that DTC Ecommerce companies need to expand product lines if they want continuous growth…

Moving 2 Fast 2 Furious

Don’t feel like you need to launch new products too quickly – actually it’s better if you take your time. Bonobos started off making awesome, well fitting, high quality pants for men. They acquired tons of early adopters and they built a brand just off these pants…

“[Succeeding] earns you the right to go from product one to product two. Take as much time as you need to get product one right, and to prove it — because if you don’t, no one is going to be waiting on pins and needles for product two,” said Bonobos co-founder Andy Dunn.

On the flip side, Jessica Alba’s The Honest Company launched with 17 different products. Co-founder Christopher Gavigan was quoted, “Any mom who needed to buy chemical- and irritant-free diapers was also going to need chemical- and irritant-free baby wipes, and chemical- and irritant-free shampoos, and so on. If they couldn’t get most everything from one place, then they weren’t likely to go hunting around different stores.”

CBInsights published a blog post that goes into the strategies behind popular DTC Ecommerce brands like Casper, Dollar Shave Club, Bonobos, Harry’s and Warby Parker. Definitely worth a bookmark to save for future reading.

That Hustle & Flow

There is no guarantee that a new product launch is going to be a hit – so do your due diligence before investing tons of resources into a new product line that won’t gain any traction.

The first step is getting feedback. On the most basic level, you could reach out to friends and family – only those you trust to be brutally honest with you – and ask them what they think. A step further, you could survey your existing customers through email or new visitors on your site using Qualaroo. More advanced? Create a focus group consisting of folks in your target market and get unbranded, unbiased opinions…

Another thing to do is to take a look at your competitors. What are they doing? And if you need to dig a little deeper, talk to your suppliers. There’s a good chance they might have some inside info on what your competitors are planning.

Harvard Business Review’s In-Depth Look at the Logic Behind Product Line Extensions

HBR published an amazing essay back in 1994 titled “The Logic of Product Line Extensions” – it goes into everything a business owner needs to think about when expanding product lines. It makes you think about how your new product line affects your brand image and how new products can power innovation within the company.