Blue Tokai's 30 million $ ,D2C & 1100 INR for 1 cookie
And a little about branding..
“saurabh you were negative about D2C but Blue Tokai the D2C coffee brand just raised funding”
Yes, that just happened.
Beyond the message I got, the fact is that Blue Tokai, the amazing speciality coffee company, just raised $30 million USD, led by A91 Partners. Source:
And while it is 100% correct that I have been critical of D2C valuation and that I predicted a fall in valuation too, I also mentioned a key part in this D2C predictions article; click to read.
It’s how I concluded the article.
"Brand—yes, brand will become critical in D2C.
And Blue Tokai has one of the best brands out there. And no I am not talking about being popular-Mamaearth is also well known ,so is Lenskart. But having a brand is about customers going to the store to buy your product, not just any product.
And I realized how much some people loved Blue Tokai when my closest friend, while visiting India, would call me so that I could use Swiggy to deliver Blue Tokai to his home (for some weird reason, he doesn’t have an Indian number…different story).
And, while I am a wonderful friend (and also modest: p), he is not the only one who adores Blue Tokai. Just do a conversation search, and you will see an overwhelming number of fans.
Remember this in a ‘sort by price’ or ‘4+ reviews only’ world, the ones to win will be those who crack the algorithm but the ones to come FIRST will be the ones who will go beyond it, by building a brand.
The likes of Blue Tokai, Whole Truth,Sleepy Owl, etc are a doing a great job of it.
And how much value does a brand carry for D2C ?
This is ‘Last Crumb’ a cookie brand in LA which sells a box of 12 cookies for 165$ ! (yes that’s 1,100 Rs for 1 cookie).
That’s costly, and that’s a brand.
Just check their names too. I don’t think Amazon/Solimo can make their own version to beat this D2C brand
Don’t let your product become a commodity, build a brand.
Written by Saurabh