This week’s Signals digs into crackdowns, collabs, recovery flows, and why Chamberlain Coffee + Disco are scaling fast.
👋 Welcome back to Signals
We’re back with another round of shifts, stats, and sparks shaping the D2C landscape. From creative collabs to the latest benchmarks on shopper behavior, this week is all about spotting the signals that matter most as we gear up for Q4.
Let’s get into it.
Big news this week: the FDA announced a sweeping crackdown on misleading direct-to-consumer prescription drug advertising. They’re tightening rules that let brands gloss over risks and over-promise benefits.
Regulators are also planning to monitor social media and influencer ads more aggressively, making this more than just a pharma story… it’s a wake-up call for all of us running D2C brands.
What it signals is clear: regulators are taking a sharper eye to brand claims, disclosures, and transparency, which means wellness, beauty, and functional food could be next. It also highlights the importance of building trust-first messaging into our marketing before regulation forces our hand. And finally, it’s a reminder that paid channels aren’t immune; creative reviews need to be as much about compliance as they are about conversion.
💡Operator Takeaway: This isn’t just a compliance shift, it’s a brand trust moment. The operators who double down now on substantiated claims, clear disclaimers, and storytelling will be the ones who win loyalty (and protect margin) when the guardrails tighten.
What’s the vibe across the D2C ecosystem right now?
This week collabs are driving the conversation. Whether it’s brands teaming up with platforms to create cultural moments or operators experimenting with AI-native commerce. Here’s what caught our eye from Gil Greenberg and Robleh Jama:
It really happened!
The @ridgewallet <> @Shopify wallet is real.
What collab should we do next? Drop ideas. I might drop wallets.
— Gil (@gilgNYC)
3:00 PM • Sep 23, 2025
can't help but notice that Orders tab...
ChatGPT x Shopify collab going to be insane
— Robleh (@robjama)
2:03 AM • Sep 17, 2025
💡 Market Trend: The ecosystem feels restless but energized. Cultural collabs are giving brands legitimacy and reach, while AI experiments hint at a future where discovery and conversion collapse into one moment. The takeaway? Operators willing to test bold partnerships and new surfaces are the ones shaping what D2C looks like next.
We’re data nerds so you don’t have to be so we love a good stat. Each week we’ll bring you some data to chew on with The Data Drop.
Here we go.
Cart abandonment is still bleeding revenue, and it's worse on mobile. According to ClickPost’s 2025 cart abandonment data, the average global cart abandonment rate is ~69.99%, but on mobile it spikes to a staggering 85.65%. That means nearly 9 out of 10 carts on mobile never make it to checkout.
Reasons for Cart Abandonment According to Baymard Institute
What’s interesting: Recovery flows actually work. Benchmarks show abandoned cart emails average a 41% open rate, a 21% click-through rate, and about 50% of those clicks convert into completed purchases (ConvertCart). For operators, that means cart recovery isn’t just a “nice to have”, it’s one of the highest-ROI lifecycle flows you can run.
💡 What this mean tactically?
💡Bottom line: With 7 in 10 carts abandoned (and nearly 9 in 10 on mobile), recovery is just as critical as acquisition. Even small tweaks here can compound into meaningful margin gains heading into Q4.
One tool, one brand, one agency to watch out for this week.
What they did: Disco now powers 1,000+ brands and taps into $15B+ in shopper data to fuel growth. Backed by a $20M Series A (Felicis Ventures), they’ve rolled out DiscoAudiences and DiscoFeed, AI tools that pair complementary brands for cross-sell and smarter acquisition. Disco is positioning itself as the “network effect engine” for operators who want scale without more ad spend.
Why it matters: With acquisition costs climbing and paid ads feeling less efficient, collaboration is quickly becoming a core growth channel. Disco makes partnerships systematic: instead of cold outreach or one-off collabs, brands can plug into a network, get matched with complementary players, and turn post-purchase touchpoints into new customer acquisition moments
💡Here’s what this means for you:
Common Thread Collective partners with DTC brands in the $10M–$100M revenue range, helping them scale with a full-funnel approach: acquisition, retention, creative, and data all under one roof. They’ve been behind wins like 4.6× growth for Igloo and consistent margin protection for fast-growing consumer brands.
💡 The takeaway for you: In a time when acquisition costs are rising and brand differentiation is getting tougher, CTC’s integration of data and full-funnel thinking is a differentiator. They help brands not just scale, but sustain growth via smarter spend, retention, and margin protection.
Put it into play
👉 Stop treating acquisition and retention as separate silos. Always ask: how does new traffic get folded into repeat behavior?
👉 Use performance data to inform creative strategy, not the other way around. Creativity without backing metrics is a gamble.
👉 Seek to be “insight first, media second”… that means investing in dashboards, post-mortems, analytics so you don’t blindly scale.
What they are & what’s making noise: Chamberlain Coffee, founded by creator Emma Chamberlain, is listed on 1-800-D2C and recently raised $7M to expand into retail and new product lines. They’re moving fast from “creator brand” to a fully scaled lifestyle play, blending coffee, content, and culture.
Why they matter right now: Their growth shows how creator-led D2C can mature into a serious business. By building community first, then layering in omnichannel expansion and product extensions, they’ve created a model for how influencer brands can escape the “fad” trap and drive lasting scale.
💡What we can steal / apply:
At 1-800-D2C, we spotlight the real builders behind the tools and brands featured on our site and the D2C players putting those tools to work. Let’s collab:
Everything you need to build a better D2C brand, business and tech stack.
