WILDE announces $40M investment, Proper Syrup debuts in 1,500 stores, and McConnell’s hits Costco

Welcome back DTC fam,

Less than a week away from November, anyone else feeling it?

We want to bring the best of the best to these weekly DTC reports to help you get ahead. If you can catch the waves early, you’ll win.

Let’s get to it:

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BFCM traffic isn’t cheap, so making every order count is crucial.

Before bumping up that ad spend, look closely at what happens once shoppers land on your site with Aftersell Lab.

Shouting them out again for the six major updates they rolled out to drive more revenue and profit across the customer journey:

• AI-powered Cart: Shows relevant upsells right before checkout
• Subscription Upgrades: Turning one-time buyers into subscribers or upgrading current plans
• Strategies: Creates personalized post-purchase recommendations
• Sweepstakes: Gives shoppers a fun extra reason to accept an upsell
• Rokt Thanks: Extra profit with targeted offers from vetted advertisers
• Aftersell MCP: Hooks your upsell data to AI assistants to easily see what is working

With about four weeks to go, check out real merchant results and grab some last-minute ideas. Also explore Aftersell Cart: “The first AI-powered Shopify cart.” Really talented team firing on all cylinders.

Get Aftersell for $0 a month through Earn & Save. Activate Rokt Thanks, keep your earnings, and get a matching discount on your bill until it drops to zero. Lot to put to work before BFCM.

[ in the news ]

Watch This Disrupt the $2B Meatball Category

Real Good Foods’ Chicken Meatballs just hit the shelves at Walmart nationwide, and they’re running one of their biggest giveaways ever.

With 8 meatball flavors in 4,000 @walmart stores, they’re tapping into a category that’s normally built on bread crumbs and soy. But now they’re coming in hot with 20g - 23g of protein/ serving.

And if you’re a sucker for meatballs, they’re running a sweepstakes where 5 winners will get a $1,000 Walmart gift card and 100 winners get $100 in RGF coupons ($15k in prizes).

Head here for details →

Big congrats to @realgoodfoods on the rollout.

Higher Dose Drops New Laser Wand

The health and wellness category is getting closer to home.

But this is just the start.

Higher Dose just released their professional-inspired red light tool you can hold in one hand. It combines an 808nm cold laser with red, near-infrared, and blue LED light to help firm, smooth, clear, and depuff exactly where you need it.

These guys are on a mission to make the best out of biohacking.

Check out their new tool here →

Musely Drives 1,200% Affiliate Revenue Growth

Musely Founder Jack Jia launched a mission to “put patients back at the center of their care, giving everyone access to life-changing prescription treatments.”

PartnerCentric, an independent agency working with Musely, said:

“No one is impulse buying a prescription… We’re gearing our strategy toward education and looking at partners that convert really well in that space.”

Building out paid campaigns with on-brand creators, along with appropriate affiliate tracking, Musely’s affiliate program drove more than 1,200% revenue growth, with one card-linked offer generating a 14x ROAS. And Jack Jia says:

“Partnerships are the most efficient channel we have right now.”

Something to lean into as we hit the high holiday spending season.

[ brands we’re watching ]

WILDE

WILDE announced a $40 million investment from S2G Investments to accelerate its next phase of growth.

And the news comes as WILDE kicks off the biggest retail launch in its history.

WILDE’s new protein crackers arrive in 3,500 Walmart stores nationwide, moving straight to full national distribution on a brand-new product.

The numbers behind the growth:

• $100M+ in retail sales to date
• 30,000+ retail doors nationwide
• 130,000 sq. ft. owned-and-operated facility with 6x expanded production capacity
• 3 protein cracker SKUs launching in 3,500 Walmart stores

Read the full breakdown and interview with the founder and CEO Jason →

PRIMA

PRIMA is the #1 top-selling protein bar at Sprouts and Erewhon.

And they’re taking a different approach to the protein bar category with 21g of complete animal protein, loaded with:

• grass-fed whey + collagen
• 10 real ingredients
• zero seed oils
• no isolates, fillers, or “natural flavors”

And Peanut Butter joins the lineup of Cacao, Cookie Dough, Mocha, Salted Caramel, and Mint Chip, sweetened with organic raw honey and made with grass-fed beef tallow.

See why the new flavor is on our radar →

Proper Syrup

Target just got sweeter with this drop.

Proper launched in 1,500 Target stores, coming in with Salted Caramel, Vanilla, and Strawberry syrup flavors.

Founders Ryan Schneider and Jeremy Moss are building Proper around this mission:

“… a truly natural syrup that doesn’t sacrifice taste, texture, or integrity. We proudly make Proper from real, organic ingredients and have specifically tailored our recipe to support the unique flavor profile of specialty coffee…”

McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams

McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams, the 78-year-old, family-owned brand, is bringing its premium, small-batch ice cream to select Costco stores in a brand-new format:

Half-pints.

McConnell’s first-ever half-pint portions will be sold in four-pack bundles, debuting this month at select Southern California Costco locations.

Each Costco-exclusive pack features four 8 oz cups across two fan-favorite flavors: Chocolate Covered Strawberries and Sea Salt Cookies & Cream.

[ quick hits ]

Lululemon → adds former product chief to board

For DTC Media Players → How SMBs can win the year with CTV

SharkNinja → turning its fans into beauty sellers

Good Culture → rises to #2 in the category

Bachan’s→ New Japanese BBQ sauce…

For the DTC Founders → Hear it from those in the game

See you Thursday,

Zach and 1800DTC Team 1800DTC.com

P.S We’re bringing some exciting things to 1800DTC in the coming weeks. Those on this newsletter will get first access. Stay tuned for more details.