Klaviyo plus AI, what grocery data reveals about omnichannel, and the shifts smart operators are watching.
🚨Quick PSA🚨
Before we dive in, one quick note: you might notice a new look and a slightly different name in your inbox. 1-800-D2C is now 1800DTC.
Same team, same mission, same focus on helping operators build smarter and execute better. The ecosystem has matured, and our brand is evolving with it. Cleaner, sharper, more operator-first… just like the way modern commerce actually runs.
Now for the real bread and butter. Commerce is moving fast right now. AI is getting embedded directly into the stacks we run on, physical retail is quietly turning into fulfillment infrastructure, and the line between “brand,” “platform,” and “operator tool” keeps blurring.
This week’s Signals reflects that shift. We’re looking at how AI is starting to live inside core marketing platforms, what the latest grocery data says about the future of omnichannel and last-mile, and which emerging brands, tools, and partners are quietly positioning themselves for the next phase of scale.
If you’re building, scaling, or fixing a DTC business, this is your weekly pulse check.
When AI actually plugs into the stack (and not just the hype cycle).
Klaviyo quietly dropped something big: a direct connection to ChatGPT. Not as a gimmick, but as a layer that sits right on top of your customer data and messaging workflows.
The real unlock here isn’t “AI writes subject lines.” It’s that your first-party data can now be the brain feeding the model. That means:
Faster campaign ideation without jumping between tools
Smarter segmentation logic and flow prompts
A path toward personalization that’s based on who the customer is, not just what they clicked last
This is one of those moves that feels small on the surface, but strategically it signals where marketing platforms are going: AI embedded inside the system of record, not bolted on after the fact.
If you’re an operator, the question isn’t “should we use AI?” anymore. It’s “how fast can we operationalize it inside the tools we already run on?”
What’s the vibe across the DTC ecosystem right now?
Swap, Shopify, and where the line really is
If you’re hearing more about Swap lately and wondering how it actually fits into the e-com stack, here’s the straight take most operators land on. Shopify is still the clear default for building and running an online store; storefronts, checkout, apps, ecosystem, reliability. It’s mature, flexible, and battle-tested. For most brands, nothing else really comes close on that core job.
Where Swap enters the picture is further downstream, once brands start scaling and the operational cracks show. Founders and operators tend to talk about Swap less as a “Shopify competitor” and more as an operational layer that helps clean up returns, exchanges, international shipping, duties, and taxes. These are the parts of the business that quietly get expensive and time-consuming as order volume grows. Teams like that Swap can reduce support load and encourage exchanges or store credit instead of pure refunds.
The balanced view from ecom and CPG teams is that Swap isn’t replacing Shopify anytime soon, and isn’t really trying to. Shopify remains the foundation. Swap is something brands add when Shopify alone stops covering the messy, global, post-purchase reality of running a scaled commerce business.
💡Main takeaway: Shopify is still the backbone for running an online store, while Swap is the operational layer teams add when returns, logistics, and global complexity start to pile up.
We’re data nerds so you don’t have to be. Each week we’ll bring you some data to chew on with The Data Drop.
Grocery’s ‘brick meets click’ moment is officially here.
New numbers show how quickly digital and physical commerce are fusing in grocery, and the scale is worth paying attention to even if you’re not in food.
A few standout stats and trends:
Online grocery sales in the U.S. are projected to top $187B by 2027, with delivery and pickup driving the bulk of that growth.
Pickup continues to outpace delivery in order volume for many regional chains, largely because it’s cheaper to fulfill and more predictable for customers.
Retailers investing in micro-fulfillment and local store automation are seeing faster order turnaround and higher repeat usage.
Omnichannel shoppers (those who use in-store + pickup + delivery) consistently show higher lifetime value and purchase frequency than single-channel shoppers.
The bigger pattern is that stores are no longer just sales floors, they’re becoming last-mile infrastructure. For DTC and omnichannel brands, this means physical presence is shifting from a pure brand play to a logistics advantage.
Being closer to the customer now directly impacts speed, cost, and experience, turning proximity into a real competitive moat. Models like buy-online-pick-up-in-store, local same-day delivery, and frictionless returns are quickly becoming baseline expectations, not experiments.
💡 The takeaway: “Brick meets click” isn’t a buzzword anymore. It’s the operating model.
One tool, one brand, one agency to watch out for this week.
A fast-rising snack brand proving that protein-forward can still be craveable, and that early DTC velocity can unlock real retail doors.
BUNKY is one of those early snack brands that feels like it’s lining up all the right pieces at once: strong product, real demand, and now serious distribution momentum.
They were just accepted into UNFI’s UpNext program, which is a big deal in food and beverage. Past cohorts include brands that went on to become category leaders, and the program is designed to fast-track emerging products into national retail conversations.
What makes BUNKY interesting from an operator lens:
They sold through their first production run across DTC, Amazon, and TikTok Shop in a matter of months. That’s cross-channel validation, not just social hype.
They’re playing in a hot lane: protein-forward snacks that still feel indulgent, not “functional first.”
The UNFI partnership lowers friction to landing that first anchor retail account, which is often the hardest jump from early traction to real scale.
This is a textbook example of how modern food brands are stacking growth: prove demand online, then use that signal to unlock retail, not the other way around.
Loyalty is moving out of email and into the customer’s wallet.
OuterSignal is tackling a problem most consumer brands still quietly struggle with: truly understanding who their customers are, not just how they behave.
At a high level, they’re building a customer intelligence layer that:
Flags VIPs, influencers, and notable buyers as soon as they transact
Enriches customer profiles with demographic and professional context
Enables more advanced personalization across email and SMS
Even surfaces potential business development leads hiding inside your own order data
The founder’s insight is simple but accurate: most brands are sitting on mountains of first-party data, yet still make decisions with surprisingly shallow customer understanding.
As acquisition gets more expensive and retention more strategic, tools that deepen identity, segmentation, and personalization are becoming infrastructure, not “nice to haves.”
Surprise! This one’s a little different. Lumibuild Studio isn’t for brand operators this time, it’s for the tools and SaaS companies serving them.
Lumibuild Studio focuses on web design, web development, and creative assets specifically for platforms in the commerce and tech ecosystem. Think product-led websites, high-converting landing pages, and visual systems that can clearly communicate complex software to operators who are short on time and allergic to fluff.
As the martech and e-comm tooling landscape gets more crowded, the website becomes more than a marketing surface. It’s your primary sales environment, your first demo, and often your first trust signal. Studios like Lumibuild sit at the intersection of UX, storytelling, and performance, helping tools explain their value quickly and convert attention into real pipeline.
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