The direct-to-consumer movement — characterized by popular brands like Warby Parker, Glossier and Casper — has taken the retail industry by storm for the better half of the last decade. Whether employers are ready for it or not, its influence is about to infiltrate well beyond the retail marketplace and straight into the employee benefits landscape.
DTC, in which brands eliminate the middleman and sell directly to consumers, has become a popular model in e-commerce because it creates more meaningful shopping experiences for customers. Consider DTC darling Away, a luxury travel brand which offers highly curated shopping experiences in which people can customize luggage purchases to their exact liking. This way of shopping has become popularized by millennials, 60% of whom gravitate toward purchases that are an expression of their personality.
