DTC → Retail & Wholesale

When digital stops compounding, the next channel shouldn't start from zero.

Rising CAC, creative fatigue, and a ceiling on paid growth aren't a creative problem — they're a channel problem. Execution Space builds the operational infrastructure DTC brands need to sell into retail, wholesale, and B2B from the system they already run: pricing structures, ordering and EDI, 3PL and retail compliance, and the inventory operations underneath all of it.

What we build

One operation. Two kinds of customer.

Wholesale isn't a second business you stand up beside the first one. Done properly it's the same catalogue, the same inventory, and the same team — serving a buyer who orders differently, pays differently, and is far less forgiving about accuracy. Building it blended is what keeps the two channels from drifting into two versions of the truth.

  • One catalogue and one inventory pool behind both channels — not a second store to reconcile
  • Wholesale pricing structures, terms, and trade programs that don't cannibalize retail
  • B2B ordering — a buying path your accounts will actually use, on the platform you already run
  • EDI, routing guides, labelling, and the retailer compliance layer
  • 3PL and inventory operations that can reserve and allocate across channels
  • Product data and catalogue work clean enough to survive a retailer's requirements
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    A homewares brand — a blended B2B and DTC build: one system, one catalogue, serving retail customers and wholesale accounts together.
    Questions

    Channel expansion — common questions.

    What are the signs a DTC brand has hit its digital ceiling?

    The usual pattern: customer acquisition cost climbs every quarter, creative fatigues faster than you can replace it, and incremental ad spend stops producing incremental revenue. Growth becomes a function of spending more rather than reaching further. When the unit economics only work at a scale you can no longer buy, the constraint is the channel, not the creative.

    What infrastructure does wholesale actually require?

    More than most DTC teams expect. A wholesale price structure and terms separate from retail pricing, a B2B ordering path buyers will actually use, inventory operations that can reserve and allocate across channels, and retailer compliance — EDI, routing guides, labelling, and chargeback exposure. The commerce platform is usually the easy part; the operations underneath are the work.

    Do we need a separate store for wholesale?

    Usually not — and usually you shouldn't want one. A second store means a second catalogue to maintain, a second inventory truth, and a reconciliation problem you built for yourself. Shopify's native B2B, company accounts, and customer-specific catalogues and price lists let one store serve both: retail customers and wholesale buyers on the same product data, with different prices, terms, and ordering paths. A separate store is the right call when the assortments genuinely diverge or a retailer's requirements force it — not as a default.

    How long does it take to stand up a B2B channel?

    It depends on catalogue size and how clean your product data is. The storefront is rarely the work — making one catalogue, one inventory pool, and one set of price rules serve two very different kinds of customer is. As a reference point, one of our homewares clients went live as a blended B2B and DTC operation on a single catalogue. Adding B2B to an existing, healthy platform is a shorter run.

    Do you run the ads too?

    No. We build systems and operations, and we work alongside your media partners rather than replacing them. Channel expansion is an infrastructure problem — the media work stays with the people already doing it well.

    Not sure whether this is the work you need?

    Email contact@executionspace.com and we’ll set up a time — twenty minutes, no deck.

    Or start a project →