The DTC Trap
The Most Expensive Mistake in CPG: Selling a “Nice-to-Have”
I was catching up with Robbie Page, founder and CFO of Tenzo Tea.
We came up in the early Shopify days. Same playbook:
Launch product
Run Meta ads
Scale fast
Feel like geniuses
…until you don’t.
At some point, the machine breaks:
CAC creeps up
Competition floods in
Margins get squeezed
Growth stalls
Sound familiar?
Then Robbie said something that stopped me:
“We finally understood the difference between a nice-to-have purchase and a must-have purchase.”
That realization took them 10 years and millions of dollars.
Let’s break it down.
Nice-to-Have vs Must-Have
Nice-to-Have = You Convince People to Buy
This is most DTC.
Your customer:
Wasn’t actively looking for your product
Didn’t wake up needing it
Needs to be sold every single time
So what do you do?
You:
Run ads
Tell stories
Create urgency
Offer discounts
Retarget endlessly
You’re manufacturing demand.
And that’s why it’s expensive.
Must-Have = They Need It With or Without You
Now flip it.
A café doesn’t want matcha.
They need matcha.
Every. Single. Week.
If they don’t buy it:
They can’t sell drinks
They lose revenue
Customers go elsewhere
That changes everything.
You’re no longer:
Competing for attention
You’re:
Competing for supply
The Channel That Changes the Game
This is where Tenzo unlocked something big.
Instead of fighting for:
Instagram attention
TikTok trends
Influencer shoutouts
They started selling into cafés.
Now the dynamic shifts:
DTC (Nice-to-Have) | B2B (Must-Have) |
|---|---|
CAC driven | Relationship driven |
One-time buyers | Recurring buyers |
Price sensitive | Reliability sensitive |
Emotional | Operational |
You go from:
👉 “How do I get this person to try my product?”
To:
👉 “How do I become the default supplier?”
That’s a completely different business.
This Applies to Almost Every Brand
This is where it gets interesting.
Pick almost any product, and ask:
“Who needs this, not just wants this?”
Examples:
Protein Powder
Nice-to-have: fitness consumers
Must-have: gyms, smoothie bars, trainers
Candles
Nice-to-have: home decor shoppers
Must-have: hotels, spas, Airbnb operators
Skincare
Nice-to-have: consumers browsing Sephora
Must-have: med spas, dermatology clinics
Coffee
Nice-to-have: DTC subscribers
Must-have: offices, cafés, restaurants
Supplements
Nice-to-have: impulse buyers
Must-have: practitioners, clinics, wellness centers
Same product.
Different buyer.
Different economics.
Why Most Founders Miss This
Because DTC is sexy.
It’s:
Fast feedback
Easy to launch
Feels scalable
Feels like control
But it hides a brutal truth:
You are renting your growth from platforms like Meta Platforms and TikTok.
And the rent keeps going up.
Meanwhile, must-have channels are:
Slower
Less obvious
Operationally harder
But way more durable.
The Mental Model Shift
Most founders ask:
“How do I scale this product?”
Better question:
“Where does this product become non-optional?”
That one question can change your entire business.
Actionable: How to Find Your “Must-Have” Channel
Here’s how I’d approach this if I were starting today:
1. List Your Product’s Core Function
Not the branding. Not the story.
The raw utility.
Ask:
What job does this product do?
2. Identify Who Gets Paid When It’s Used
This is the unlock.
If your product helps someone make money, it’s closer to “must-have.”
Examples:
Matcha → cafés sell drinks
Protein → gyms sell smoothies
Skincare → clinics sell treatments
Follow the money.
3. Map Your B2B Buyer
Ask:
Who needs this product to operate?
Who would notice immediately if it disappeared?
That’s your target.
4. Start Small and Scrappy
You don’t need a full sales team.
Do this:
DM 50 businesses
Walk into 10 locations
Offer samples
Close your first 5 accounts
Forget scale. Find signal.
5. Build for Retention, Not Acquisition
Once you land them:
Make reordering stupid easy
Lock in subscriptions
Offer bulk pricing
Become part of their workflow
You want:
👉 “Set it and forget it” customers
Final Thought
Most brands spend years trying to get better at convincing people to buy.
Very few step back and ask:
“Where would this product sell itself?”
That’s the game Robbie unlocked.
And once you see it…
You can’t unsee it.
