'It's completely inverted': Sanzo founder Sandro Roco on the coronavirus's effect on DTC demand

Before the pandemic, the zero (or low) sugar beverage brand Sanzo had all the scrappy upstart charm and aesthetic of a DTC brand. But, it still sold mostly through wholesale -- 70 to 80%, in founder Sandro Roco's estimate.

That's changed. "Since the pandemic, it's completely inverted, and even more extremely so," Roco said on the Modern Retail Podcast. "During this pandemic, if you're looking at CPG sales and specifically sparkling water, a lot more folks are willing to order sparkling water to their home than many other CPG categories."

That's good for Sanzo, which sells 12-packs of "Asian-inspired sparkling water" online, where subscriptions are possible, but also through bodegas, grocery stores, and soon, 50 Whole Foods outlets in the Tri-State area.

Depressed advertising costs at the start of the pandemic led the company to "dust off the DTC playbook pretty quickly," according to Roco.

"I don't know that there will ever be an opportunity for a digital marketer like what we had in March and April," Roco said. "You had the combination of the powerful targeting that Facebook and Instagram have to offer -- which, obviously there's a whole other consumer conversation around data privacy and what not, but at least to a marketer, it's still a very robust advertising engine -- with also CPMs or ad rates that you've just never seen on this platform."

Sanzo has also partnered with the Coca-Cola backed Iris Nova, through which it's benefitted from their text order platform.