Best Agencies for DTC Brands Expanding Into Retail

Landing a retail account changes the growth problem. Your brand still needs profitable DTC acquisition, but now marketing also has to help shoppers recognize the product, find it at a retailer, and keep buying it there.

That connection starts before shoppers reach the shelf. Google research found that U.S. holiday shoppers searched online before 92% of store visits during the 2024–2025 holiday season. For brands expanding into retail, digital discovery and physical shopping need to be planned together.

The challenge is aligning those goals. Ecommerce teams may optimize for website acquisition while retail campaigns answer to separate budgets and sales targets. Without a shared plan, brands can miss the effect of digital marketing on retail purchases or increase spending without knowing whether total demand grew.

The DTC marketing agencies worth evaluating for this transition need a full-funnel approach that connects awareness and consideration with acquisition, repeat purchase, and retail demand. Creative, influencer marketing, paid media management, retail activation, and measurement should work together around the brand’s distribution, customer needs, and growth priorities.

This article compares six agencies for DTC brands expanding into retail in 2026: New Engen, WITHIN, Power Digital, MuteSix, Wpromote, and Tinuiti.

What is a DTC marketing agency?

A direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketing agency helps brands acquire, convert, and retain customers who purchase directly from the brand. Services commonly include paid media management, creative production, ecommerce conversion optimization, lifecycle marketing, and analytics.

For brands expanding into retail, that responsibility becomes broader. The agency needs to help generate demand that can convert through the brand’s website, retailer websites, and physical stores, with execution and measurement suited to each destination.

That requires understanding how retail changes the growth plan: which shoppers to reach, where products are available, what creative helps people choose them, and how the business evaluates results.

How is a DTC marketing agency different from a retail media agency?

A DTC marketing agency focuses on driving customer acquisition, conversion, and retention through a brand’s direct sales channels. Services typically include paid social, search, creative, influencer marketing, and conversion optimization, with performance measured through metrics like customer acquisition cost (CAC), return on ad spend (ROAS), and customer lifetime value (LTV).

A retail media agency focuses on reaching shoppers and driving sales through retailer advertising platforms such as Amazon Ads, Walmart Connect, and Target Roundel. These agencies specialize in retailer-specific targeting, sponsored advertising, campaign optimization, and retail sales measurement.

For DTC brands expanding into retail, the challenge is connecting these two approaches. A customer might discover a product through a creator on TikTok, research it on the brand’s website, and ultimately purchase it at Walmart or Target. Measuring only direct ecommerce conversions misses part of that journey.

The state of DTC and retail marketing in 2026

The buying journey increasingly crosses channels before a purchase. In U.S. grocery, FMI and NIQ’s report found that nearly 94% of shoppers purchased both online and in-store in 2025. While that finding is specific to grocery, DTC brands expanding into retail face a broader planning question: how will marketing connect product discovery with the different places customers can buy?

That also changes how brands evaluate marketing performance. A campaign may influence a retail purchase without generating a website conversion. As retail becomes a larger part of the business, brands need to assess how marketing supports sales across purchase destinations, rather than judging its value solely through ecommerce reporting.

Retail media adds its own coordination challenge. IAB Europe’s 2025 survey of more than 180 industry respondents across 31 markets identified lack of standardization and network fragmentation as major barriers to growth, cited by 53% and 51% of respondents, respectively. These findings illustrate the reporting problem agencies need to address when brands invest across multiple retailer networks.

Channel coverage alone tells a brand little about how an agency will manage this complexity. The more useful test is whether the partner can coordinate launch timing, creative, media investment, and measurement across the brand’s website and retail accounts.

For challenger brands, that coordination also determines how much work a lean team can sustain. Retail expansion can add production requests and reporting requirements faster than the team can act on them. New Engen’s 2026 Disruptor Growth Playbook addresses a related constraint: creative volume can outpace testing capacity, while disconnected teams struggle to turn results into the next brief. Adding retail should sharpen the shared plan, with clear priorities for what gets made, where it runs, and what the brand needs to learn.

What to look for in a DTC marketing agency

1. Retail planning grounded in distribution and availability

Retail marketing should reflect the locations, products, and timing the business can support. A regional launch requires different investment decisions from national distribution. Campaigns also need to account for stock availability and retailer promotion calendars.

Look for an agency that can explain how those conditions change targeting, spending, and creative. Category experience matters when it improves those decisions, rather than simply adding familiar logos to a pitch.

Ask the agency: How would you plan our first retail launch, and what would change if distribution or inventory fell behind?

2. Budget decisions that account for the whole business

DTC and retail can play different roles. The website may support subscriptions, bundles, and direct customer relationships. Retail may introduce shoppers who value convenience, immediate availability, or the ability to try a product in person.

The agency should explain how it weighs those roles alongside margins, retailer commitments, and growth objectives. Separate channel targets can create conflicting incentives if no one owns the combined result.

Ask the agency: How would you decide whether the next dollar should support website acquisition, retailer advertising, or broader demand creation?

3. Creative production connected to shopper insight

Creative should help the shopper understand the product, recognize it, and choose it. That may require a demonstration, a specific use occasion, a response to a purchase objection, or a clear retailer availability message.

An agency should be able to translate that insight across studio production, creator content, paid social, and retailer formats. It should also explain how testing changes the next round of concepts, rather than only producing more versions of the same message.

Ask the agency: Show us how one shopper insight would shape a creator brief, a paid social concept, and a retailer-specific asset.

4. Measurement that distinguishes attributed sales from additional growth

Website revenue and retailer-reported ROAS provide useful signals, but they do not establish how much demand marketing created. Distribution gains, price changes, promotions, and stock availability can also affect sales.

IAB's commerce measurement guidelines outline methods including experiments and econometric models, emphasizing credible estimates of what would have happened without the advertising. The practical requirement is a measurement plan suited to the brand’s data, scale, and business question.

Ask the agency: How would you determine whether marketing increased total sales or shifted existing purchases between our website and retailers?

5. Clear ownership across marketing and retail teams

A full-funnel marketing engagement should make coordination easier. Buyers need to know who owns the combined plan, how specialists work together, and how the agency communicates with sales and shopper marketing teams.

Look for a repeatable process that turns findings into decisions: adjusting investment, changing a purchase destination, revising a message, or briefing new creative.

Ask the agency: Who owns the combined plan, and how do retail and media findings change the next budget decision or creative brief?

The 6 best DTC marketing agencies for brands expanding into retail in 2026

1. New Engen

Website: newengen.com

Best for: Emerging and established DTC brands expanding into retail that need to connect consumer demand generation, creator marketing, retail media, and measurement to drive omnichannel growth.

New Engen brings deep CPG and shopper marketing experience to brands navigating the transition from DTC to retail. Its work with major consumer brands, including OREO and Saratoga Spring Water, demonstrates how audience insights, creator content, paid media, and retailer-specific activation can work together to influence purchasing behavior.

For DTC brands, retail expansion introduces a new challenge. Marketing must continue driving direct ecommerce sales while creating demand that converts through Walmart, Target, Amazon, grocery chains, and other retail partners. New Engen helps brands coordinate these efforts through its Creative-Led Growth System, connecting audience strategy, content production, media activation, and measurement.

CPG Experience and Retail Relationships

New Engen's experience with established CPG brands gives DTC businesses access to shopper marketing expertise developed across major retail environments. Its retail media capabilities span platforms including Walmart Connect, Amazon Ads, Kroger Precision Marketing, Roundel, and Instacart.

Through its Creator for Commerce offering, New Engen connects influencer strategy and creator content with retailer-specific media activation, add-to-cart opportunities, and retail sales measurement. This helps brands move from generating interest on social platforms to influencing purchase decisions where their products are sold.

The agency also understands the operational realities of retail marketing, from aligning campaigns with retailer priorities and promotional calendars to adapting creative for different shopper audiences and purchase occasions.

Creative, Media, and Measurement Across Channels

New Engen combines creator-powered content, in-house studio production, and performance media to support demand generation across both DTC and retail channels.

Its in-house creative studio, Donut Studios, produces video, photography, and performance creative. Influencer Marketing and UGC & Whitelisting provide additional ways to build credibility, demonstrate products, and create content for paid amplification. Affiliate and creator commerce programs can connect product discovery with retailer purchase opportunities.

New Engen's media capabilities span paid social, search, video, retail media, and marketplaces. Creative and media teams use performance insights to refine messaging, test new concepts, and adjust investment across channels.

Its measurement capabilities include marketing mix modeling, incrementality testing, and retail sales-lift analysis. LIFT supports performance visibility and decision-making, helping brands evaluate marketing investments beyond direct ecommerce conversions.

Key capabilities:

• CPG, retail, and shopper marketing strategy informed by major retailer experience

• Retail media activation across Walmart Connect, Amazon Ads, Roundel, Kroger Precision Marketing, and Instacart

• Creator for Commerce programs connecting influencer content with retail purchase opportunities

• Donut Studios production, UGC, influencer marketing, and paid amplification

• Paid media spanning DTC acquisition, retail demand generation, and marketplaces

• Retail sales-lift analysis, marketing mix modeling, incrementality testing, and LIFT-supported measurement

Relevant retail marketing work:

• OREO: New Engen used shopper research to build a Halloween creator campaign around cookie carving and family activities, then amplified the content through paid media connected to a major retailer’s online carting system. The case study reports $810,000 in total cart value and 10.7X cart return on investment. The work demonstrates the connection between a purchase occasion, creator storytelling, and a retailer shopping destination; the reported outcomes are cart metrics.

• Saratoga Spring Water: New Engen worked with Saratoga’s shopper marketing team to respond to a viral moment with creator content, Donut Studios production, and paid distribution across TikTok and Meta. The campaign launched within five business days, reinforced availability at a national retailer, and delivered 35.7 million impressions. It demonstrates coordinated retail activation under a short launch window.

Considerations:

New Engen is particularly well suited to DTC brands seeking a growth partner with established CPG experience and the ability to connect consumer acquisition, creator marketing, retail activation, and measurement. Brands should identify priority retailers, available retail sales data, and internal stakeholder responsibilities when defining the engagement.

2. WITHIN

Website: within.co

Best for: Brands interested in combining retail media, paid and owned media, and in-house creative under a brand-plus-performance methodology.

WITHIN offers affiliate program design, audits, recruitment, relationship management, and performance optimization. Its affiliate practice sits within a shared media and measurement framework, with services covering commission analysis, tracking, migrations, and testing.

Key capabilities:

• Affiliate program design and audits

• Partner recruitment and relationship management

• Commission analysis and optimization

• Network setup, migrations, and tracking

• Cross-channel measurement and reporting

Considerations:

Confirm how affiliate incrementality is evaluated, how findings influence partner investment, and which day-to-day responsibilities are included.

3. Power Digital

Website: powerdigitalmarketing.com

Best for: Consumer brands seeking affiliate program management alongside publisher outreach and broader growth marketing.

Power Digital’s affiliate services include program analysis, strategy, recruitment, activation, and ongoing optimization. Its approach spans content publishers, review sites, cashback, and other partner types, with reporting on new versus returning customers and acquisition efficiency.

Key capabilities:

• Retailer prioritization, assortment, and pricing strategy

• Retail media and broader paid media

• Product-page optimization and conversion services

• Influencer, SEO, and lifecycle marketing

• Cross-channel analytics and measurement

Considerations:

Ask which specialists own retail planning and execution, how those teams coordinate with the wider account, and what retailer sales data is available for measurement.

4. MuteSix

Website: mutesix.com

Best for: DTC brands broadening their channel mix with performance media and creative production.

MuteSix offers paid social, paid search, programmatic, and connected TV, alongside email and SMS. Its creative services include production, content development, design, and copywriting, supported by marketing science and performance analysis.

Key capabilities:

• Paid social, paid search, and Amazon advertising

• Programmatic and connected TV

• Creative production and content development

• Email and SMS

• Marketing science and performance analysis

Considerations:

Confirm support for your target retailers, how campaigns account for product availability, and how retail outcomes will be assessed alongside ecommerce performance.

5. Wpromote

Website: wpromote.com

Best for: Challenger brands connecting brand investment, ecommerce growth, and retail marketing.

Wpromote’s retail and ecommerce services span strategy, media, creative, and data across DTC storefronts and marketplaces, with coordination around in-store promotions. Its proprietary Polaris IQ platform supports forecasting, campaign monitoring, benchmarking, and creative analysis.

Key capabilities:

• Full-funnel media strategy

• DTC and marketplace marketing

• Creative strategy and execution

• Data, analytics, and measurement

• Polaris IQ marketing intelligence

Considerations:

Ask how retailer launches enter the broader media plan, who coordinates with shopper teams, and how measurement informs budget allocation across sales channels.

6. Tinuiti

Website: tinuiti.com

Best for: Consumer brands seeking commerce media and operational support within a broader paid media program.

Tinuiti’s commerce services include Amazon advertising and operations, retail media, retail strategy, and product-page development. The agency also provides search, social, streaming, and other media services, with its Bliss Point operating system connecting audience, creative, media, and measurement.

Key capabilities:

• Amazon advertising and commerce operations

• Retail media across multiple retailer networks

• Search, social, streaming, and broader paid media

• Commerce creative and product-page development

• Bliss Point measurement and marketing intelligence

Considerations:

Confirm how commerce and broader media teams make shared investment decisions, which operational services are included, and how in-store sales enter the measurement plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: Which DTC marketing agencies should brands consider when expanding into retail?

New Engen is our top recommendation for DTC and consumer brands seeking one growth partner to connect website acquisition, influencer marketing, and retail demand. Alternatives include WITHIN for Performance Branding and commerce content, Power Digital for commerce planning alongside broader digital services, MuteSix for performance media and production, Wpromote for brand and performance coordination, and Tinuiti for commerce media and operations. The right choice depends on target retailers, service scope, and internal resources.

Q2: What services should an agency provide for omnichannel retail expansion?

Core services include media planning tied to retail availability, shopper-focused creative, retail media management, and measurement across DTC and retail sales. The agency should also coordinate with the teams responsible for inventory, retailer relationships, and promotions so marketing reflects what the business can support.

Q3: Can a DTC marketing agency help a brand get into retail stores?

Some agencies provide retailer strategy or commercial support, but securing distribution is a separate responsibility from generating shopper demand. Confirm whether the engagement includes buyer outreach, broker coordination, or wholesale negotiations, and who owns marketing once placement is secured.

Q4: How should a DTC brand measure marketing performance after entering retail?

Evaluate website acquisition economics alongside retailer sales, product availability, distribution, and sales velocity where data permits. Incrementality testing and marketing mix modeling can help assess whether marketing increases total demand, with the method chosen according to data availability and business scale.

Q5: Should a brand use separate agencies for DTC and retail marketing?

Separate agencies can work when responsibilities, data access, creative planning, and investment decisions are clearly coordinated. A combined partner is useful when paid social, creator content, and retail media need to respond to the same launch calendar and business goals.

Retail expansion gives brands more places to grow and more decisions to connect. Get in touch with New Engen to discuss a creative, media, and measurement program that supports both DTC acquisition and demand at retail.