Notably, Olly has an arrangement with Target to provide six-month exclusivity, aside from, on any new products.

But those DTC customers are some of the most important because of their loyalty, said Peters, though he declined to elaborate. “But what came alongside that were a lot of new insights and information and data that we never would have had before.”ĭTC e-commerce makes up 5-10% of the brand’s overall sales. That was the main solution to this big problem we had,” said Peters. “When customers came to our site and saw an Olly product was out of stock, they had an option to go to other to buy it. 2020 to June 2021, Olly attributed $28,000 of its sales to its ability to point those customers elsewhere. By providing the easy option, Olly reduces friction and customer frustration. To prevent customer attrition, Olly worked with e-commerce analytics company MikMak to connect its online customers of out-of-stock products to it partner retailers’ websites. However, supplements are often seen as perfunctory or functional items, and customers are more willing to bounce between competing brands based on availability.

Prior to finding a solution, Olly would offer customers the chance to be notified of inventory updates by filling out a form on a product’s detail page. She estimated that at the height of supply chain issues, up to 80% of its products were out of stock. Jennifer Peters, DTC manager at Olly, said Olly’s raw ingredient supply chain was hit relatively hard in 2020, with ingredients like elderberry being nearly impossible to procure. That was the experience that Unilever-owned Olly Nutrition had in 2020, as it faced epic supply chain constraints. While it can demonstrate the popularity of a product, it also prevents further sales and can even drive customers to competitors. An axiom of the beauty and wellness industry is that selling out of products is a blessed curse.

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