There is a long, strange middle between who we were as brands and who we are becoming. In 2025, that middle was a battlefield.. Or in todays terms, oine battle after another. Oscar nod.
We’ve spent years chasing scale, but 2025 brought a different calling: The Truth. It’s easy to look at a 5.5% increase in revenue and call it “growth.”. But if we look closer, if we consciously reclaim the vulnerability of our margins, we see the “little death” of the old way of doing business.. The year of no discounts soon became the year for the cheap consumer who is not resilient. Ask anyone below the squeezed middle.
Illusion of “Easy”
We grew, yes. But it was a growth funded by the sheer weight of units (+10.2%) rather than the power of our voices.. Average selling prices fell by 4.3% because macro pressures like tariffs stripped us of our pricing power.. We didn’t win by being “better”; we survived by converting the traffic we had left (22.3% → 24.6%) while the world around us got more expensive..
The takeaway? Brands paid more for every dollar and kept less of it..But we owned our own customers. Like f*ck you did. Most do not know what to do with them - fact.
Category Paradoxes: Lost and Found
We often think execution is the cure-all. But 2025 proved that execution without soul is just activity..
Beauty (The Paradox): Execution was near perfect (PO fill ~91%), yet dollar losses from out-of-stocks more than doubled.. It’s a reminder that nothing needs to be fixed or filtered—sometimes the right inventory just wasn’t there..
Pet Supplies (The Blueprint): This was the year’s true “doorway to growth.” Revenue rose ~15%, margins expanded, and brand loyalty held firm even as discounts dropped..
Furniture (The Stress Test): A brutal return to reality. Revenue fell ~35%, and no amount of media spend could save a funnel that was fundamentally broken..
The Cost of Connection (Ad Efficiency)
The “Pay-to-Play” era has matured. CPCs rose 8.4%, while ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) fell 8.1% to 4.46x.. We are aggressive in our spending to sustain volume, but media efficiency is eroding.. We are shouting louder, but are we connecting? The algo are stacked against us and against agencies. Agnecy world, prepare for some turbulence. You are the cure and the reason all at once.
The Mid-Year Pause: Inventory as a Shield
In the “V Spot,” we talk about the pause—the moment of letting go. In 2025, brands did the opposite. Inventories swelled (+19.2%) as a hedge against tariff risks.. We carried more weight just to stay in the game.. Just like a shi*ty old sponge. A sh*t sponge is what MIke Ryan might say.
Metric2025 PerformanceThe “V” PerspectiveRevenue+5.5%Growth through volume, not value.Unit Margins-2.6 ppThe “little death” of profitability.Ad Spend+19.6%Aggression as a defensive strategy.PO Fill Rate77.1% → 90.2%Sharp execution finally arrived.
Final Thought: Finding the Doorway
Growth is still achievable, but only through a “reckoning” with your costs. 2026 isn’t about scale; it’s about sharper execution and tighter control.. Stop treating a broken margin like a secret. Reclaim your profitability.
Stay a while. Or come back when the market makes sense again.