Here's the anecdote: "How much are you spending on marketing?" If the number is too low you won't even pass the retail gatekeepers. There was a period earlier

Here's the anecdote: "How much are you spending on marketing?" If the number is too low you won't even pass the retail gatekeepers. There was a period earlier in the timeline(the late 70s and the start of the 80s) where one might succeed in breaking into retail without a large spend, but between then and the rise of cheap web apps and app stores, the market for independents was in shareware mail-order and downloadables, which have much higher purchase friction, and thus lower conversion rates.