As quickly as e-commerce grew in 2020, direct-to-consumer (D2C) e-commerce sales grew even more, with some estimates pointing to sales up s much as six times over overall e-commerce. A McKinsey survey of U.S. consumers found that 75% reported a change in their shopping behavior and between 73% and 80% said they will continue their COVID-19-altered shopping habits.
D2C e-commerce sales were expected to exceed $18 billion in 2020, according to eMarketer. E-commerce company SamCart is cashing in on this trend, landing a $10 million Series A round of funding on Thursday. Led by TTV Capital with participation from Fin VC and the George Kaiser Foundation, the funding will help the 6-year-old company build upon its 2020 success.
“This past year has radically changed the way people interact with products and services online,” Brian Moran, founder and CEO of SamCart, said. “We’re seeing an entire new group of online shoppers become more comfortable expanding the types of things they buy online, like e-learning, online acting or music classes and more. There’s no better time than now to start selling directly to consumers with an omnichannel, product-first strategy.”
SamCart has now raised $13 million, according to Crunchbase.
Founded by Moran and his brother Scott Moran in 2014, SamCart helps brands – both large and small – launch D2C websites to sell their products.
“Direct-to-consumer commerce grew three to six times the rate of overall e-commerce from 2016 to 2019, which has contributed to SamCart’s success in that time,” Sean Banks, partner at TTV Capital, said. “When COVID-19 added fuel to direct-to-consumer commerce growth, SamCart’s e-commerce model was a unique match for what entrepreneurs needed to best reach customers during that time.
“We see a lot of potential for SamCart’s business model to continue growing at the pace it experienced in 2020 because we believe the past few years have forever trained a new wave of online shoppers who are more interested in products that suit a specific purpose over brands. We’re excited to support SamCart and help boost its efforts to reach more entrepreneurs that provide a lot of value to communities worldwide,” Banks said.
SamCart said it will invest the funding in marketing efforts and staff recruitment at its Austin, Texas, headquarters and in the Washington, D.C., area.
According to the company, SamCart finished 2020 with over 14,000 customers processing more than half a billion in sales.
“The team at SamCart has built the best tech infrastructure for direct-to-consumer businesses. Their solution allows these businesses to compete with the big corporations and we look forward to seeing how they continue to support SMBs globally,” Peter Ackerson, general partner at Fin VC, said.
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