Web Smith, the founder of 2PM, the media and consulting company that exists most notably as a very well-trafficked and influential newsletter by the same name, discusses what direct-to-consumer brands should expect from the future of ecommerce returns, who the most iconic retail startup founders are today, and why the world of DTC isn't as cuddly as you might think.

"Retailers have a hard time understanding sometimes that it's a contact sport," Smith says. "We are often protective in our own direct-to-consumer bubble, but in the greater system, the game's not really that fair, at all."

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