Solo Stove started out as a pure direct-to-consumer (DTC) company. That propelled their growth until 2023, when DTC sales plateaued, and they started pushing more into wholesale retail channels.
While they are a company in transition, with an interim CEO at the helm, they likely will continue to try and find growth through wholesale. With that change in philosophy, they are canceling what is a hallmark of DTC companies, their loyalty program.
Loyalty programs are key for DTC business because it helps drive repeat purchases and it allows more data collection on customers. For Solo Stove, which has sister brands under the Solo Brands umbrella, it also helped cross-sell their other brands like Chubbies or Oru Kayak.
Solo Stove’s loyalty program was called Firestarter Rewards and it gave customers points with purchases that could be redeemed for money off future purchase. Given all the Solo Stove products I’ve tested, I’ve used and liked the little bit off from the Firestarter Rewards.
Beyond money off for customers, it also gave Solo Stove another touchpoint to email and remind customers of their points. It’s also a nice break-up from the constant sale emails.
It’s clear Solo Stove is trying to make changes to right the ship. This latest change could be them looking for an opportunity to trim discounting, or it could be indicative of them continuing to move away from DTC. Either way, it will be missed by consumers.
Firestarter Rewards have stopped accruing, effect Friday, February 21st, 2025. Customers have an opportunity to redeem their rewards through March 17th, 2025.