For direct to consumer brands, physical retail has long been both the holy grail and the cautionary tale. The promise is scale, visibility, and access to the majority of shoppers who still buy in store. The risk is equally well documented: brutal unit economics, operational complexity, and the very real possibility of diluting the brand equity that made you worth stocking in the first place.

Yet omnichannel is increasingly the expectation, not the exception. The brands gaining ground today are the ones learning to operate across DTC, marketplace, and physical retail simultaneously, with each channel reinforcing the others rather than cannibalizing them.

Suri , the British electric toothbrush brand that has built a following around design and sustainability, recently landed in 500 Target stores across the United States. It’s a massive feat. And many other brands are asking the same question: is it worth it?

I asked co-founder Mark Rushmore, co-founder of Suri, to share more on the retail strategy behind that move, what other brands get wrong when they make the jump from digital, and what the first few months in store have taught the team so far.

Chhabra: What metrics from Target.com gave you the confidence to scale into 500 physical stores?

Rushmore : No single metric unlocked the decision. The confidence came from a wider read of demand: a 4x velocity increase over two years at Boots in the U.K., the strength of our U.S. DTC and Amazon businesses, and consistent customer reviews. The Target.com listing and the in store agreement actually came together in parallel. There is always an element of the unknown in physical retail, but those signals gave us enough to back ourselves.

Was there a specific threshold, such as conversion rate, repeat purchase or basket size, that you needed to hit first?

It was not about a single number. It was about proving we had the right partner, the right economics, and the right environment. Target stood out because its shoppers align with ours and it has a strong track record of championing emerging brands. Just as importantly, it puts us where our customer already browses the category.

How did the Target.com customer differ from your DTC customer?

We only launched in March, so we are learning in real time. The biggest difference is intent. On DTC, people often arrive already aware of the brand. On Target.com it is far more about discovery. The product page has to do much more education than we initially assumed, almost like a salesperson in the absence of one. We have also found that U.S. shoppers respond particularly well when discovery is paired with a clear incentive. Coupon activations and Circle Week promotions have been among our most efficient tools for converting interest into trial.

Slotting fees, co-op advertising and chargebacks are notoriously brutal for small brands. How did you model the unit economics before saying yes?

We built with retail economics in mind from the outset, because over 65% of U.S. power toothbrush purchases still happen in store. Before committing, we modeled backwards from the shelf: wholesale margin, promotional support, co-op, freight, packaging, replenishment, returns, and buffers for chargebacks.

The bigger lesson is that retail only works if your product and margin structure are designed for it before the first purchase order arrives. Trying to retrofit the economics afterward is where brands get into trouble.

At roughly $40 million in revenue, you are going up against companies with billions in marketing spend. How do you weigh the cost of shelf space against staying digital only?

Staying digital only has a real cost too. You miss the majority of category demand and delay the kind of mass awareness that physical retail creates. Over 65% of oral care purchases still happen in store. Beyond conversion, being on shelf is an awareness channel in itself and a signal of credibility. We treat it as a long term brand investment, not a short term revenue play.

What does a successful first year in physical Target look like?

Physical retail is about productivity at shelf. Success means proving we can earn our space: a healthy rate of sale per store per week, strong sell through, disciplined replenishment, and customers returning for replacement heads. The goal is not simply to be listed in 500 stores. It is to show that we can move customers from discovery to routine.

Oral care is a category where most shoppers reach for what they already know. How do you stop someone mid aisle?

Start by being ruthlessly clear on who you are for. If you try to compete on everything, you disappear. In store, packaging and fixture need to answer three questions in seconds: what is it, why is it better, and why should I switch now? That clarity matters far more than trying to tell the whole brand story on a shelf.

Does landing in mainstream retail change how you communicate sustainability?

The core message does not change, but the delivery has to. In DTC we have space to go deep on materials, processes, and mission. In retail we have seconds.

For a Target shopper, sustainability has to be immediately legible, not buried in the fine print. The goal is to make the better choice feel obvious: lead with performance, and let sustainability land as a practical benefit rather than a lecture.

Are there sustainability tradeoffs that come with physical retail that brands rarely talk about?

Yes, and it is worth being honest about them. Speed to market pressures in retail can push you toward air freight, which carries a significantly higher emissions impact than sea. Larger retail footprints mean more logistics, more displays, and tighter timelines. Those tradeoffs do not have simple solutions, but they force you to build smarter longer term systems. For us that means maintaining plastic free recyclable packaging across channels, prioritizing lower impact freight where timelines allow, and ensuring the recycling experience works for customers who buy in store, not just online.

A lot of challenger brands have stumbled at exactly this moment. What is your advice to founders making the jump?

First, do not confuse online hype with retail readiness. Retail exposes operational weaknesses fast. Forecasting, replenishment, margins and promotional discipline all suddenly matter at a different level than they do in DTC.

Second, be ruthless about differentiation. You have seconds on shelf to give someone a reason to choose you over a brand they have trusted for years. If your positioning is too broad, you vanish.

Third, treat retail as a long term brand investment. The brands that win show up consistently over time across product, packaging, messaging and operations.

It is a marathon, not a sprint.