10 Mistakes Digital-Native Brands Make and How to Avoid Them

One day you're celebrating your first viral product launch, and the next you're drowning in spreadsheets, scrambling to fulfill orders, and watching customers flee to competitors because you can't keep up. Sound familiar?

Here's the thing: most Digital Native Brand (DNB) failures aren't due to bad products or poor marketing. They're the result of operational mistakes that seem small at first but snowball into business-threatening crises as you scale.

Whether you're just launching your DNB or you're knee-deep in growing pains, this guide will walk you through the 10 most common mistakes that trip up digital-native brands. More importantly, we'll show you exactly how to avoid them (or course-correct if you're already there).

Let's dive in and make sure your DNB is built to scale, not fail.

DNB Mistakes: Try to Avoid Them, Fix Them if You Can’t

Mistake #1: Relying on Spreadsheets Too Long

Spreadsheets are great when your business is just getting off the ground. They’re an easy way to enter, track, and organize data with the help of pre-made templates and formulas. That’s why they’re the first choice of many DNBs to manage their inventory (e.g., tracking stock levels and serial numbers, watching stock movement, calculating costs/values, identifying reorder points, and more). 

Unfortunately, as businesses grow and expand their inventory, things can get more complicated. More SKUs, multiple sales channels, and more customers strain a spreadsheets’ capabilities, which can lead to:

• Frequent errors
• Overstocking or out-of-stock situations
• Time constraints due to manual data entry
• Lack of real-time visibility into inventory
• Disconnected data between systems
• Poor or limited forecasting for future demand

To avoid these troubling results, you can nix the use of spreadsheets from the get-go. But what if you’re already using them? Then it’s time to say good-bye to your spreadsheets and hello to a modern inventory management software (IMS), like Cin7.

With Cin7, your inventory data rests in a modern, centralized database. You’ll enjoy access to accurate, updated inventory information in one application, helping you make better decisions faster.

Mistake #2: Poor Inventory Visibility Across Channels

As a growing DNB, expanding to new marketplaces and retail partners is an exciting growth strategy. But if you can't effectively track inventory across all these channels, you're setting yourself up for serious problems.

Without clear visibility, you're flying blind. You’re unable to see where inventory is located, how much you actually have, where it needs to go, or what it's costing you. This leads to overstocking (which ties up your cash) and stockouts (which frustrate your customers and send them to competitors).

The solution? A centralized inventory management system that gives you a single source of truth. Cin7's Connected Inventory Performance seamlessly integrates and automates your entire inventory lifecycle—from sourcing to manufacturing to delivery. You'll have the real-time insights and tools you need to manage inventory effectively across every channel, every time.

Mistake #3: Overcomplicating Product Lines Too Quickly

Growing your business means adding SKUs to your product line as quickly as possible, right? Not so fast! Adding too many SKUs too fast can be risky. And by risky, we mean you could be in danger of experiencing SKU bloat, which can lead to leaky cash flow. 

Introducing products without doing your research may result in the products sitting on your shelves, costing you the initial purchase price and warehouse stocking fees. Plus, they take up space where goods your customers really want could be residing.

Before expanding your product lines, you need to tap into what you already know: which of your items are selling and who your customers are. With this knowledge, you’ll be able to figure out what products will be a hit and how much to order while also reducing the bloat and shoring up your cash reserves.

Mistake #4: Not Connecting Accounting and Inventory Systems

Today’s digital world requires businesses like yours to have technology systems that are the very best of friends if you want your operations to run seamlessly (and you do!). 

Let’s assume you have an accounting system that you love and an inventory solution that seems to be doing the job, but they aren’t, or can’t be, integrated. You’re forced to sign in and out of each one all day long, trying desperately to manually reconcile data. 

The result? Reconciliation errors and delayed reporting, not to mention the time you’ve wasted going back and forth between two separate solutions. It’s enough to make you scream (internally if you’re not working remotely).

Connecting your accounting and inventory systems is a necessity for today’s DNBs, and Cin7’s native integrations with accounting superstars QuickBooks and Xero does just that. You’ll fully sync your inventory, orders, and COGS for instant, accurate financials, reducing costs and boosting profitability.

Mistake #5: Neglecting Wholesale Opportunities or Expansion

Your individual customers? They're great. They love your products, they share them on social media, and they keep coming back for more. Your D2C model is working—so why would you even think about changing it?

Simple: you could be leaving serious money on the table by not selling wholesale.

Selling business-to-business (B2B) has some major perks! There are bigger orders, longer term commitments, and better profit margins with fewer customers. We’re not saying abandon the customers that got you to where you are. Keeping your D2C model intact while embracing the wholesale opportunities is a winning combination. And it doesn’t have to be a chaotic transition. 

Cin7 lets you run both models from one platform! You can manage wholesale orders, pricing, custom catalogs, and bulk order right along with your regular online sales.  Additionally, Cin7’s B2B Portal allows your wholesale customers to access popular products, place orders, and set delivery times without any extra work from you or your team.

Mistake #6: Ignoring Fulfillment Optimization

If there’s one thing that really irks your customers, it’s not getting their products on time. And it should bug you too. If you’re not making your fulfillment processes as efficient and accurate as possible, then you may suffer from unhappy customers, high shipping costs, and missed Service Level Agreements (SLAs). 

Thankfully, Cin7’s built-in order and fulfillment automation makes the whole process a breeze. You can automatically:

• Route orders to the right warehouse or integrated 3PL
• Print labels
• Update shipping statuses 

There’s no reason to not optimize fulfillment when Cin7 can do it for you!

Mistake #7: Not Using Real-Time Data for Decision-Making

Here’s the truth: gut feelings might help you pick a brand color, but they shouldn’t be making inventory decisions.

You're trying to figure out how much stock to order and where to warehouse it. You need to nail customer demand without drowning in excess inventory or hemorrhaging cash on storage fees. Can you really afford to base that on "I think we sold pretty well last month" or "it feels like we have enough"?

That’s where Cin7’s ForesightAI comes into play. ForesightAI can help you make smart inventory decisions using live data on sales, margins, and inventory performance. Demand forecasting and reporting transforms from a guessing game into a science-based practice.

Mistake #8: Failing to Prepare for Viral Demand

​​The holiday season is the make-or-break period for most DNBs. You know it's coming every year—yet somehow, brands still get caught flat-footed when November rolls around.

Unlike a surprise viral moment, holiday demand is predictable. You have months to prepare, analyze last year's data, and build your inventory strategy. But if you're relying on gut feelings or last-minute ordering, you're setting yourself up for disaster. Stockouts during peak season don't just mean lost sales—they mean lost customers who'll remember you couldn't deliver when it mattered most.

The key to holiday readiness? Start planning early with data-driven forecasting. Cin7's ForesightAI analyzes your historical sales patterns, seasonal trends, and inventory performance to help you stock the right products in the right quantities. You'll know exactly what to order, when to order it, and where to warehouse it—all before the holiday rush hits.

And here's the bonus: when you build a solid foundation with flexible inventory management and strong supplier relationships for the holidays, you're also prepared for those unexpected viral moments. The same systems that help you scale up for Black Friday can help you respond quickly when a product suddenly takes off on social media.

Mistake #9: Operating in Silos Between Teams

You know that frustration when you're in a group chat and half the messages don't go through because someone has a different phone? That's what it's like when your marketing, ops, and finance teams are all working in different systems.

Your marketing team launches a promotion. Operations doesn't know about it until orders flood in. Finance can't reconcile the numbers because they're looking at yesterday's data. Meanwhile, everyone's scrambling to figure out what's actually happening. That’s what operating in “silos” looks like. And it’s a fast track to dropped balls and angry customers. 

So that balls don’t get dropped, it’s critical that you bring everyone together on a shared, centralized system, like Cin7. Not only will everyone be on the same page at the same time, but your team will have full organizational visibility so that they can do their jobs correctly and serve your customers effectively.

Mistake #10: Delaying Tech Upgrades Until It’s Too Late

Upgrading your technology in the middle of an emergency often leads to making decisions in panic mode. Who can think clearly when they’re experiencing high levels of anxiety? Nobody we know.

By investing in the right tech stack before any disasters hit and confidently laying the foundation for your DNB on a modern, advanced tech stack that can grow with you you’ll future-proof your business. 

But what if you’re still relying on aging, disconnected systems? Don’t worry! It’s not too late to find a modern IMS, such as Cin7, that can manage your inventory operations from top to bottom. Cin7 can help you overcome the challenges that come your way while meeting your digital-native customers’ expectations easily and efficiently.

Digital-Native Brand Success with Cin7

Success requires a lot of hard work, but if you’re making any of the mistakes we’ve just discussed, then prepare to work even harder. Spreadsheets, inventory mayhem, and emotion-based decisions have no place in a modern business. You know what does?  The right products, connected systems, smart fulfillment, teams that actually talk to each other, and technology that can keep up with your growth.

For Aidan Drentino, co-owner of Brunae Body (a very successful DNB), Cin7 was the technology for them. 

“Being on Cin7 has made running the business less stressful,” he says. “Going forward, we have confidence that if we are going to launch more SKUs, open more warehouses, or get more retail contracts, we can have everything in the same place, and we have that source of truth.”

At Cin7, we understand the DNB journey from start-up chaos to scaling operations. Learn more by requesting a free demo today!