What is a digitally native vertical brand (DNVB)?
A digitally native vertical brand (DNVB) is a company that starts online, sells directly to consumers, and controls its entire value chain, from product design and manufacturing to marketing and distribution.
Unlike traditional brands that rely on retail partners or marketplaces, DNVBs build direct relationships with customers through their own ecommerce channels from day one. Think Dollar Shave Club for grooming, Allbirds for footwear, or Glossier for beauty.
Being “digitally native” means more than having a website. It means the brand's DNA is rooted in data and automation. DNVBs use online channels for everything: customer acquisition through targeted social ads, community building on social platforms, product feedback through reviews, and personalized marketing through email and SMS. While many DNVBs eventually open physical retail locations, these spaces typically serve as experience centers that guide people back to their core online platform.
The "vertical" in DNVB, meanwhile, refers to end-to-end control. These brands don't just sell products online. They own many steps of the customer experience, which helps them maintain quality standards, gather first-party data at key touchpoints, and create cohesive brand experiences that can be harder for traditional retailers to replicate.
Key characteristics of successful DNVBs
DNVBs share several traits that distinguish them from traditional retail brands, including:
- Direct customer relationships: The brand owns the customer experience and collects data at key touchpoints, from first website visit through post-purchase follow-up.
- Product focus and specialization: Many DNVBs start with a narrow product category and aim to solve specific customer problems with a focused offering.
- Brand storytelling: DNVBs invest heavily in brand narrative, often built around transparency, sustainability, or a founder's personal mission.
- Community building: Successful DNVBs treat customers as community members, engaging on social media and featuring user-generated content.
- Agile product development: Direct access to customer feedback and sales data helps DNVBs iterate quickly and shorten traditional lead times.
- Data-driven marketing: Many marketing decisions are informed by customer behavior data, allowing brands to segment audiences and personalize messages based on real-world signals.
DNVB vs. DTC: what's the difference?
The terms DNVB and direct-to-consumer (DTC) often get used interchangeably, but they aren't the same.
DTC is a sales model. Any brand that sells directly to customers without third-party retailers is operating DTC. A legacy brand like Nike that adds an ecommerce store is using a DTC channel, but Nike isn't a DNVB. The brand existed for decades before digital commerce and built its reputation through wholesale partnerships.
DNVBs are a specific subset of DTC brands. They share these defining characteristics:
- Born online: DNVBs launch as internet-first companies with ecommerce as their primary sales channel.
- Vertical integration: They control product development, manufacturing relationships, marketing, fulfillment, and customer service.
- Data-driven operations: Business decisions, from product development to marketing strategy, come from customer data collected through direct relationships.
- Online marketing focus: DNVBs typically rely on social media, influencer partnerships, and performance marketing rather than traditional advertising.
Tl;dr: All DNVBs are DTC, but not all DTC businesses qualify as DNVBs.
Benefits of the DNVB model
The DNVB approach offers several practical advantages, including:
- Streamlined cost structure: Reducing reliance on intermediaries can simplify pricing decisions and create room to invest in product quality or customer experience.
- Complete control over brand experience: Controlling key touchpoints supports consistency and helps brands earn trust across the journey.
- Rich zero- and first-party data: Direct relationships mean DNVBs collect purchase history, browsing behavior, and preferences directly, which supports personalization.
- Faster feedback loops: Direct sales make it easier to see quickly what resonates, which allows for rapid iteration on products and messaging.
- Stronger customer connection: Personalized experiences and direct communication can foster familiarity and trust over time.
- Flexibility to expand channels: DNVBs that build strong direct relationships can selectively add wholesale partnerships or physical retail while staying grounded in their core identity.
Why DNVBs use AI-powered marketing automation
The DNVB model relies heavily on marketing automation to make personalized, direct relationships possible at scale. As the engine that helps translate zero- and first-party data into timely, relevant interactions, marketing automation supports DNVB success in several ways:
- Unified customer profiles: When marketing originates from a real-time customer profiles that combine data from website visits, purchase history, marketing engagement, and more, it’s more relevant, engaging, and effective.
- Audience segmentation: By grouping customers based on their actions, preferences, and predicted behavior and messaging them accordingly, DNVBs are better able to reach their customers directly with messages they know will resonate.
- Automated flows: Triggered messages based on customer actions (like welcome series for new subscribers or browse abandonment flows for window shoppers) provide consistent, always-on responses without manual effort.
- Omnichannel orchestration: Coordinating messages across email, SMS, WhatsApp, mobile push, and more keeps DNVBs top of mind, while customers receive consistent, well-timed communication wherever they engage.
- Agentic AI: AI marketing agents can build out marketing strategies, forms, flows, and campaigns from scratch, no prompting required, while AI customer agents can handle common customer inquiries so human agents don’t have to. Both types of agentic AI free up time for busy DNVB teams to focus on the kind of creative, strategic work that makes their brands so successful.
- Marketing analytics: Measuring what resonates across channels and using AI to optimize, enhance, and improve automatically helps DNVBs learn and refine their approach over time.
The DNVB model suggests that direct relationships and data ownership can be powerful ingredients in retail.
Ready to build the kinds of direct customer relationships that power DNVB success? Get started with Klaviyo today to start treating your customers like you know them.