How to Communicate a D2C Shift Without Losing Your Professional Stockists

For decades, professional beauty brands have been built inside treatment rooms, not on TikTok. Stockists have been the storytellers, the educators, the billboards, the reason a product sells. So when a brand that’s always lived in the B2B lane suddenly announces a move into D2C (whether via their own Shopify store or major retailers like MECCA, Adore Beauty, Myer, DJs) the industry reacts before it responds.

Facebook groups spiral. Therapist forums run wild. Rumours get out of control.

And all of this can be avoided (or significantly softened) IF brands communicate the transition properly.

Here’s how.

1. Start With Transparency (Because Once Trust Drops, Market Confidence Fuses Fast)

If there is one universal truth in this industry, it’s this: Stockists can handle almost anything except being blindsided.

Be upfront. Early. Clear. Direct. Don’t hide it. Don’t quietly “test” e-comm thinking your stockists won't notice. Don’t let them hear it from someone else.

Your announcement needs to:

• Explain why you’re expanding into D2C

• Share the long-term vision, not just the business case

• Acknowledge that the professional channel built the brand

• Reassure them that the professional industry remains core

  
  

When brands try to soften the truth or under-explain it, stockists feel betrayed. And once trust fractures, it's nearly impossible to stitch it back.

Transparency is your only insurance policy.

2. Shift the Narrative: What Does This Mean for Them, Not You?

A brand moving into D2C will always trigger the fear response:

“Why would I push a brand clients can buy online?” “Are they going to undercut me?” “Is this the beginning of the end of professional exclusivity?”

So you must reposition the messaging away from commercial expansion and toward stockist benefit.

That means clearly articulating:

• Why top-of-funnel visibility actually drives more clients into treatment rooms

Professional brands historically rely on therapists to create awareness. That strategy hit its ceiling years ago.

Wider visibility:

• Increases brand credibility

• Warms up consumer demand

• Makes consultations easier

• Drives in-clinic curiosity

• Helps therapists close retail sales faster

When consumers already recognise the brand, the therapist becomes the expert who guides, not the one who introduces from scratch.

Client awareness fuels professional conversion.

• How D2C visibility supports (not replaces) the professional channel

This needs to be spelled out, clearly and repetitively.

The message is:

“We’re growing the pie, not taking your slice.”

Brands must show the therapist exactly how they remain part of the growth strategy. Which leads to…

3. Build a Give-Back Mechanism for the People Who Built You

If you take the brand into D2C, you must also take care of the people who stood behind it for decades.

Here are mechanisms that work:

• Location-based rebates on e-comm sales

If a customer buys online within a certain radius of a stockist, that clinic receives a percentage.This protects therapist revenue and deepens loyalty overnight.

• Include clinic vouchers inside every D2C order

A simple “$20 toward your next pro treatment” drives customers back into professional spaces.This is the easiest way to close the loop between online and in-clinic.

• Online consultations booked back to stockists

If a client asks questions or needs guidance, route them to the nearest professional account.

• Exclusive loyalty rewards for therapists

If D2C grows, ensure therapists grow with you.

The brands who are missing this step are the ones experiencing the biggest backlash.

4. Protect the Professional Channel With True Professional-Only Value

If your stockists are asking themselves:

“Do I need to keep this brand now they’ve gone D2C…?”

…you’ve already lost them.

Your job is to make the answer an immediate, resounding yes.

That means offering:

• Professional-only products

SKUs that can only be prescribed after a consultation, never sold online.These protect therapist expertise and keep treatment rooms central to outcomes.

• Professional-only treatments

Signature facials, high-performance protocols, or layered systems that can’t be replicated at home.

• Prescription-only items

A single SKU with controlled access is enough to keep therapists connected.

• Industry-first partnerships to strengthen clinical value

This might include:

• A skin needling brand

• An LED or RF partner

• A complementary device company

• Education groups

• Skin analysis platforms

Not for distribution — simply alignment. It strengthens your position in treatment rooms and signals: “We are investing in the professional pillar, not walking away from it.”

5. Communicate the Vision, Not Just the Move

Don’t just announce D2C. Position the future.

Your messaging needs to answer four unspoken fears:

1. “Will this dilute my retail sales?”

2. “Will clients bypass me?”

3. “Will the brand stop caring about therapists?”

4. “Should I switch to a more exclusive brand?”
   

If you communicate the D2C expansion as a consumer play, you’ll lose stockists.If you communicate it as an industry uplift, you retain them.

The framing is simple:

“This move increases visibility, credibility, and consumer demand — and we are reinvesting that demand back into professional clinics.”

That’s the message they need to hear.

Professional brands can go D2C without sacrificing their stockists — but only if they:

• Lead with transparency

• Honour the role of the therapist

• Build mechanisms that give back

• Protect professional exclusivity where it matters

• Strengthen their treatment room value
  

The brands who nail this won’t face backlash — they’ll earn respect.

Because the shift to D2C isn’t the problem. How you communicate it is.