CC: Issue 1. Schemes for '24 & A Little Inspo

Hi Everyone! Happy New Year. I hope you had a great ‘23 and are ready to take on ‘24. 

Commerce Chronicles is back to share the best ideas in the world of commerce. The vision going forward is to balance the tactical(win now) and the strategic(win the long term). 

Most companies, especially in DTC, are all tactics - think Meta ads, CRO, and all the omnipotent Twitter gurus. This works for the best tacticians, but mere mortals(i.e., myself) need something more to succeed. 

That’s when strategy comes into play. Think category, channel, or product expansion. Think partnerships. Influencers. Etc etc…

Anyway, more on this to come over the year. I’m going to share how the best companies in the world of consumer goods think about these two things, how they intersect, and provide insights to help you become a better operator (hopefully 🙏). 

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One of the best things I read at the end of ‘23 was this Consumer Trends Report. Thanks to Coefficient Capital and Dan Frommer at New Consumer for putting it together

The TL:DR for you lazy folks (like me), is that the consumer remains strong. Shoutout to everyone who predicted a recession at the end of ‘22 (and bigger shoutout to those who correctly did not)!

What does this mean for you operators? Well, it’s obvious: there is still money to be made and companies to grow. Just because things have gotten harder (interest rates, evaporation of funding), it doesn't mean that you’re destined for slow growth, mediocrity, or destitution. 

Go out there and build (highly recommend reading this). 

Next week, we’ll dive into Temu and Skims - two of my favorite companies in the world right now.

And with that, I will leave you with this inspirational video, enjoy:

See you next Wednesday friends.

Cheers 🍵 

Steve O’Dell

Founder @ Tenzo & Commerce Chronicles

PS: If you have any topic ideas or feedback, I’d love to hear it. Just hit reply and I’ll read everything you’ve got.

PSS: I bought this newsletter from someone else. If you don’t want to get it weekly - please unsubscribe! You’re going to hurt my precious open rates.