Data stories from the DTC stack
Written from our tracked data, not takes. Every claim links to its numbers.
Helpdesk & CXOriginal dataBrand stacksBuying guidesEmail & SMSReviewsData analysisPetsPricing
Helpdesk & CXOriginal dataBrand stacksBuying guides
One tool runs 95% of the DTC helpdesk layer. Its merchants rate it 4.2.
Gorgias is on 770 of 3,152 indexed DTC storefronts and holds 95% of all detected helpdesk installs, at 4.2★. Only one other widely-adopted tool rates below 4.5 — and it dominates its layer too. What that means if you're buying.
Email & SMSOriginal dataBrand stacks
Klaviyo runs email for 78% of indexed DTC brands. Five measurements, one answer.
Index-scale detection: Klaviyo at 78% of 3,152 storefronts, what happens to its share when you reach below directory-indexed DTC, and where the challengers actually live.
ReviewsData analysisBuying guides
The review-app paradox: 43,000 five-star ratings, 21% of the index
Judge.me owns the App Store; Yotpo and Okendo own indexed DTC storefronts at every tier. Both facts are true — and the gap is the most useful buying signal in the category.
Newsweek asked 22,000 pet owners which brands they love. We read the brands' code.
We joined Newsweek's Most Loved Pet Brands 2026 against our storefront detection index. The most-loved tier is the least tooled — and the correlation between being loved and being well-run is almost exactly zero.
Four top DTC brands changed platforms in September. Only two moved to Shopify.
Our October rescan caught Suitsupply and Mvmt leaving Salesforce Commerce Cloud for Shopify, while Poppi and Almond Cow left Shopify. What we saw in each storefront's code, and what it says about where replatforming goes.
Original dataPricingBuying guides
AfterSell's new pricing: compare the packages at your order volume
We checked AfterSell's live calculator at 200, 500, and 1,000 orders. Post-Purchase still shows $34.99 at 500 orders; a changed default label did not prove an allowance cut.
Original dataBrand stacksEmail & SMSReviews
We scanned 3,797 DTC storefronts. Here's what their code shows.
October 1 snapshot: 3,152 brands with detected tools, 17,123 tool detections, and a median of five tools. Aggregate counts stayed stable while 385 brands' detection results changed.
How to compare Shopify app pricing beyond the monthly fee
Compare base fees, included orders, usage charges, features, and billing periods. Three documented pricing-page examples show how a plausible comparison can go wrong.
Original dataPricingBuying guides
One of 110 tools changed its price in August: Loop, +25%
We diff every tracked tool's pricing page. Between August 8 and 29, exactly one vendor changed a published price: Loop's Advanced plan went from $272 to $340. Two other moves we first reported were errors in our own extraction, corrected here.