Scaling DTC in a low-awareness category
Context
Saicho is a premium sparkling tea brand with strong credibility in high-end hospitality and on-trade environments. The product was proven, the brand was respected, but the category itself remained relatively niche.
While there were clear signs of product-market fit, consumer awareness of sparkling tea was still limited. Growth couldn't rely solely on capturing existing demand; it required educating customers, building consideration and expanding the category itself.
Like many emerging consumer brands, Saicho also faced the challenge of balancing ambition with efficiency. Budgets and internal resources were finite, making it critical that every investment delivered measurable commercial impact.
The opportunity was clear: translate strong on-trade brand equity into a scalable DTC growth engine, increase awareness of the category and build sustainable demand without compromising profitability or brand positioning.
Objective 01
Scale DTC revenue sustainably
Objective 02
Improve contribution margin and overall efficiency
Objective 03
Acquire new customers efficiently while increasing repeat rate
Objective 04
Build a repeatable growth model across both low and peak demand periods
Decisions
Saicho had strong brand credentials and a high-quality product, but scaling DTC required more than simply increasing marketing spend.
The challenge was balancing growth with efficiency.
How do you grow a category that most consumers have never considered?
Where should investment be focused to maximise both short-term performance and long-term demand?
How do you acquire customers without compromising a premium brand position?
And how do you maintain momentum throughout the year, not just during peak trading periods?
Rather than chasing growth at all costs, the focus was on building a repeatable and scalable growth model.
Three principles guided the approach:
Test, learn and iterate quickly, using structured planning cycles to identify the highest-impact opportunities.
Allocate budget and resource based on commercial performance, increasing investment only where results justified it.
Scale DTC in a way that strengthened the overall brand, ensuring growth reinforced Saicho's premium positioning rather than relying on short-term tactics.
Priorities
Build a testing and learning engine: rapidly identify which channels, audiences and propositions could drive efficient growth
Improve acquisition efficiency: reduce CAC while increasing the volume of new customers
Increase customer value: strengthen retention and repeat purchase to improve contribution margin
Scale proven drivers of growth: focus budget and resource on what demonstrably worked, rather than spreading investment
Execution
Execution followed the 90-day sprint model, moving from testing to optimisation and then scaling.
Testing phase: Early cycles focused on identifying scalable acquisition opportunities, validating audiences, messaging and channel mix.
Optimisation phase: Insights from testing informed where budget and resource were reallocated, improving efficiency and reducing wasted spend.
Scaling phase: As performance stabilised, investment increased behind the highest-performing areas, particularly during peak seasonal demand.
Throughout, performance was continuously evaluated against CAC, contribution and overall efficiency, ensuring growth remained commercially viable.
Change
This structured approach transformed performance across both acquisition and retention, creating a more predictable and scalable growth engine.
Growth was achieved throughout the year, not just during peak trading periods, with returning customer revenue increasing 157% year-on-year. This demonstrated that performance was being driven by stronger customer relationships and commercial fundamentals, rather than short-term promotional activity alone.
Most importantly, the business gained the confidence to make better decisions. A clear testing framework, improved visibility and disciplined execution replaced guesswork, enabling the team to scale investment, accelerate growth and build a stronger foundation for the future.
Result 01
+139%
Net sales YoY
Result 02
+74%
CM2 profit YoY
Result 03
+171%
New customers YoY
Result 04
2x
Blended ROAS (2 to 4)
Result 05
-50%
CAC vs initial baseline
Learnings
Growth came from disciplined decision-making rather than bigger budgets.
Structured testing, clear prioritisation and ongoing optimisation allowed the business to identify what worked, eliminate what didn't and scale investment with confidence.
In a category with limited existing demand, the competitive advantage was simple: learn faster, adapt faster and double down on what delivered results.
Working with Growth Society has been a game-changer for us at Saicho. From the outset, their structured approach to building the right team and understanding our brand laid the foundation for a truly collaborative partnership. The ongoing support across strategy development, campaign execution, and detailed profit reporting has been incredibly valuable. As our needs have evolved, Growth Society has seamlessly brought in new specialists to help us scale, always staying one step ahead. It's been a real pleasure to work with a team that feels like an extension of our own!
Natalie Chiu
Founder, Saicho
