Away Is Using Its Latest Round of Funding to Progress Further Into a Bricks-and-Clicks Strategy

Suitcase brand wants to open up 50 stores

With a fresh $100 million in the bank and a newly minted unicorn valuation of $1.4 billion, Away’s got a whole bag of ideas to cement its status as a brand.

Unsurprisingly, that includes further expanding its retail footprint to 50 stores over the next three years (the company currently has locations in seven cities). However, unlike traditional retailers, direct-to-consumer brands like Away can use retail as a means of expanding the brand experience, as opposed to just a selling channel, industry experts say.

“When direct brands curate their own store experiences, they have the opportunity to precision craft an experience that deepens the emotional engagement between the consumer and the brand,” said Dipanjan Chatterjee, vp and principal analyst at Forrester.

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