 company, on their most recent earnings call it's clear they've made the pivot to omnichannel. They also talked about some new products on the way, but spoiler alert, they don't give details.){kind=link}
While Solo Stove may have been founded as a direct-to-consumer (DTC) company, on their most recent earnings call it’s clear they’ve made the pivot to omnichannel. They also talked about some new products on the way, but spoiler alert, they don’t give details.
New Solo Stove Products
With 60% of their revenue planned for the back half of the year, they have some new products to help bolster their financials.
In terms of product and newness, innovation and our overall outlook, Somer [CFO Somer Webb] mentioned this, but the back half of this year there’s definitely a lot of strength in the innovation pipeline. So we have even starting this quarter, you’ll start seeing healthy momentum in innovation and product rollouts. Those are going to continue even into the beginning parts in the first half of Q4 as we really look to launch these products ahead of our Black Friday/Cyber Monday and the strength of that period.
John Merris, CEO of Solo Brands
Solo Brands CEO, John Merris, made another comment about the volume of products we’ll start seeing soon.
Looking ahead, we’re excited about our new product launches planned for the back half of the year and look forward to unveiling the first of several in the third quarter.
John Merris, CEO of Solo Brands
If you remember last year, Solo Stove released a flurry of new products. Some examples of products they released in the back half of last year include the Solo Stove 2.0 Fire Pit with a removeable ash pan, the Mesa tabletop fire pit, the pellet fueled patio heater called the Tower, and the Surround which is one of our favorite accessories.
With how they’re talking in the call, it sounds like we’ll see history repeat itself. We’re excited to see what new innovations they have to roll out.
DTC to Omnichannel
DTC has been part of Solo Stove’s identity for a long time. It was significant enough that they picked the stock symbol DTC when they went public.
They noted in past earnings calls that they’re pushing more towards wholesale relationships. That has continued to the point that they’re saying that’s the future strategy.
We are increasingly managing our business with an omnichannel approach. And given the strong consistent EBITDA margins in both channels, we plan to be disciplined in directing marketing investments that will optimize growth. To that end, we continue to refine our marketing investments to grow our brand awareness.
John Merris, CEO of Solo Brands
That means they’re paring back on their direct marketing, which they’ve always done, and are focusing traditional retail marketing.
We know that we are currently gaining exposure to a broader audience through our retail partners, and we are leaning into this opportunity. By investing in shop-in-shops, end caps, bundles and point-of-sale displays, we are able to tell a better story and create a stronger connection to our brands.
For example, in SCHEELS stores, we have created a beautiful in-store Solo Stove shopping experience that showcases the depth of our assortment. Our improved positioning in retail stores provides a seamless customer experience for those shopping our brands at retail or online.
John Merris, CEO of Solo Brands
Traditionally Solo Stove has been a lot like Kohl’s, there’s always a sale. They are working on adapting this approach a little because they now have to line-up with retail partners.
As we grew into an omni-channel model, we have focused on elevating our brand positioning and aligning our sales calendar with our retail partners. We have also pulled back our use of flash sales year-over-year, leading to a reduction in the level of planned promotions. As expected, this pullback in promotions and advertising during the quarter led to a moderation in sales trends in our direct channel; but, longer term, we believe that this is appropriate to drive consistent messaging and to better reflect the value of our brands.
John Merris, CEO of Solo Brands