Ash

Distribution and growth research on consumer brands. Founder at @patternx_

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

Most companies that lose don't lose on product.

They lose because someone worse was easier to find.

The Farmer's Dog is a $1.2B company with a 0.45% Instagram engagement rate. About 1,100 likes a post. They didn't win fresh pet food on owned reach — they bought their way to being the default answer, and the organic lane in that category is still sitting empty.

Starface invented the decorative pimple patch. 20,000 doors, roughly $150M in revenue. Social listening now shows the category getting mentioned more than the brand. They created the demand. Temu is harvesting it.

Ultrahuman is the second-largest smart ring maker by units sold. 201,000 followers, no marketing lead in the public org chart. Oura is raising at $10.9B.

Three categories. Same pattern.

The better product doesn't lose because it's worse at marketing. It loses because distribution compounds and product doesn't. Every quarter a competitor spends being the default, the gap gets more expensive to close.

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

Have you ever walked into a store to buy one thing and walked out with five?

What actually made you pick up those extra products?

Was it the packaging, the placement, a discount, or simply seeing something you hadn’t thought about before?

How much revenue is created by purchases consumers never planned to make?

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

Should a consumer brand sell its products cheaper on its own website than through retail partners?

It might improve D2C conversions.

But what happens when the retailers selling your product realise they’re competing with you on price?

How would you handle it?

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

@thenamanraj That's interesting. Do you think it's because there's limited demand for what you sell, or because the category itself hasn't reached enough people yet?

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

If your biggest competitor disappeared tomorrow, would your sales actually increase?

Or would you discover that the real competition was never another brand, but consumers choosing not to buy from your category at all?

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

@MikeTheElite Haha, because it's a much harder problem to solve. You can study competitors, but figuring out why people aren't buying the category in the first place is a different challenge.

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

@PeikGabriel Exactly. Engagement might get a brand noticed, but sales velocity, repeat orders and margins are what make a retailer confident enough to give it more space.

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

Imagine you’re a retail buyer.

Two brands approach you with similar products.

Brand A has stronger social media engagement.

Brand B has lower online engagement but consistently sells more units wherever it’s stocked.

Which brand gets more shelf space?

And what would actually influence your decision?

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

@Hanzala35546311 This is a great example of why distribution and execution matter more than starting capital. Impressive growth!

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

You have $100,000 to launch a new consumer brand.

Would you spend it on:

Getting a celebrity to promote the product.
Getting 10,000 people to try it.
Getting the product stocked in 500 stores.

You can only pick one.

What’s your bet?

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

@ambermccollum I’d lean towards that too. Getting someone to try your product is the first step. Getting them to come back is where the real opportunity lies.

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

@liamodoh Let’s connect

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

@alokdataeng Exactly. Discounts can quietly reset what customers consider a product's actual worth. Once that happens, the brand has to work much harder to sell at full price.

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

What happens when customers only buy your product during a sale?

Have you built a successful consumer brand, or have you trained people to wait for discounts?

Where do you draw the line?

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

@TimoInSales That's fair. I guess the real challenge is making sure your pricing attracts the customers who value the solution, rather than training everyone to wait for a better deal.

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

@TimoInSales Haha, that's one way to do it. But doesn't that risk making customers question whether the product was ever worth the original price?

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

@hyeokStory Exactly. Once customers learn to expect a discount, the original price stops feeling like the actual value. You're essentially training them when NOT to buy.

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

If your brand stopped running ads tomorrow, how would new customers discover it?

Would your existing distribution bring them in?

Would customers recommend it?

Or would your growth simply stop?

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

@mayoropeseme9 Exactly. Repeat purchases are also a much stronger signal that you've built something people genuinely want, rather than just something they're curious about.

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

If you were launching a consumer brand today, what would you prioritise?

Getting 100,000 people to know your brand.
Getting 10,000 people to buy it repeatedly.

One builds awareness.

The other builds a business.

Which would you choose?

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

@heyzachai That's an interesting approach. I agree that building trust before asking people to buy can make a huge difference. Just curious, how are you measuring whether that community is translating into actual demand?

[Ash @ashbuildbrands]

@NiceGuy1400 Interesting. Would you prioritise reach even if it doesn't translate into immediate sales?