Grove Collaborative (NYSE:GROV) President, CEO and Director Jeff Yurcisin said the company is positioning its direct-to-consumer business around consumer trust, product curation and fulfillment economics as it works to sustain profitability and return to revenue growth.
Speaking at an investor conference, Yurcisin argued that direct-to-consumer commerce remains viable for companies that offer a differentiated customer proposition rather than attempting to compete solely on price and shipping speed.
“D2C is not dead,” Yurcisin said, describing Grove as an online destination for household essentials focused on healthier homes and environmental considerations. He said the company has acquired more than 5 million customers since its founding and continues to serve hundreds of thousands of active customers through its website and app.
Trust and curation as differentiators
Yurcisin, who previously worked at Amazon for more than a decade, said Grove’s strategy is built around areas where he believes Amazon is less differentiated: consumer trust and curated assortments. Grove screens products against its ingredient standards and bans more than 2,000 ingredients, according to Yurcisin.
He said the company has shifted its messaging from emphasizing environmental health to more directly emphasizing household and family health. Grove’s assortment includes products such as laundry detergent, soaps and bamboo toilet paper, and its product pages display the company’s Grove Standard information, he said.
Yurcisin cited a survey of 1,010 Grove customers in which 94% said they strongly trusted or trusted Grove more than Amazon to curate and sell safe, healthy products. He said no respondents in that survey selected Amazon as more trusted.
The executive also pointed to consumer concern over product ingredients and microplastics. He said 90% of Americans are concerned about microplastics and that 72% of parents view safe ingredients as a critically important purchasing factor.
- Grove screens and re-screens products against its banned-ingredient list, Yurcisin said.
- He described the company’s customer base as predominantly higher-income, with 72% having children at home.
- More than nine in 10 respondents in Grove’s customer survey said they would be “incredibly disappointed” if the company did not exist, according to Yurcisin.
Fulfillment economics and the D2C model
Yurcisin said high shipping costs can make e-commerce difficult for companies selling low-priced consumable products. He said Grove’s ability to combine multiple items in a single shipment gives it an efficiency advantage.
Grove estimates that its fulfillment cost on a unit basis is about half that of Amazon, he said. That estimate was presented as part of the company’s rationale for why its business model can support direct-to-consumer sales despite higher customer-acquisition costs across the sector.
Yurcisin said the industry faced pressure as Amazon made speed and price “table stakes,” while changes to Apple’s privacy policies in 2021 increased customer-acquisition costs for many direct-to-consumer businesses.
Turnaround progress and growth focus
Yurcisin joined Grove more than three years ago, describing the role as a turnaround opportunity. He said that in the three years before he joined, the company’s EBITDA losses averaged about $100 million and revenue peaked at just under $400 million.
He said Grove has since delivered three consecutive quarters of positive adjusted EBITDA and continued to reduce operating expenses. The company reported sequential growth in the second quarter, according to Yurcisin, while cash remained steady at $11 million.
“Now the focus is on growth,” Yurcisin said, adding that the company expects its emphasis on human health to become more prominent toward the end of the year and into early 2027.
Yurcisin said Grove’s board and leadership team include executives with experience at companies such as Seventh Generation and Burt’s Bees, as well as investors with consumer and retail backgrounds. He said the company aims to build on its customer loyalty, proprietary brand offerings and gross-margin profile while pursuing sequential growth in 2026.
About Grove Collaborative (NYSE:GROV)
Grove Collaborative Holdings, Inc operates an online marketplace focused on natural and environmentally conscious household, personal care and beauty products. The company offers cleaning supplies, laundry products, paper goods, personal care items, cosmetics, wellness products and pet-care essentials through its digital platform.
Grove sells products under its own brands, including Grove Co, as well as products from selected third-party brands. Its platform is designed to support recurring purchases and convenient home delivery, while emphasizing ingredient transparency, sustainability and reduced packaging impact.
Founded in 2012 by Stuart Landesberg, Grove Collaborative primarily serves consumers in the United States through its e-commerce operations.
