Smile Direct Club’s love affair with Smile Shops is no secret. FY 2019 the company had a big fallout with its back then investor Align Technologies after the latter started rolling out retail outlets under its own brand-name in North America.
Post-COVID, the role of the Smile Shops was no longer to serve as centers of demand generation. FY 2020 SDC had to take the ultimate steps of closure or even consolidation of Smile Shops commensurable with market demand – realizing the ultimate objective of making its retail footprint leaner.
Furthermore, as the company now slowly transforms itself into a doctor-directed brand by building a steady network of partner dental offices – both in North America as well as rest of the world, changes in consumer behaviors has also impacted the role of SmileShops in demand generation. That is, in other words, Smile Shops are slowly transforming into brand experience centers, and SDC targets at improving the utilization rates and opening more pop-up stores (or shop-in-shop outlets) together with partner pharmacy chains.
To find out more about updates about SDC, relevant KPIs and other financials, please refer to our Research Report here (available for registered members only).
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