Direct-to-consumer (D2C) is an old concept that is taking a new shape and spreading across industries. Retailers are building a direct connection with consumers, saving time, improving services, delivering unique and personalized products. 

D2C is a growing trend and as per the data shared by Statista, “online revenue as a percentage of total revenue for D2C product lines reached 47 percent during 2017 and now is expected to rise to 59 percent in 2022”. 

D2C model is bringing many changes in this new landscape, creating a more engaging experience, improving retailer’s customer relationships, keeping transparent transactions, producing better products with better pricing. The main goal is to stay connected with customers across all channels be it store, website, app, or a combination of all. The benefit, suppliers, and customers are getting with this marketing plan is visible in success stories of popular brands like Amazon and Walmart, the big retail giants. And to enter into this ‘Amazon dominated’ world retailers have to ensure the ground rules of the D2C model. 

Are You Ready to Own Your Brand?

Companies have to ensure a hybrid business approach with ownership towards their end user’s experience because ‘customer is the king’. And, customer not only demands best shopping experience but ask for creating differentiated experiences for them. 

Thus, owning the brand brings flexibility to adapt to market change with the ability to engage directly with your customer and own your growth plan. The approach is providing huge benefits to businesses in form of an assured increase in sales, personalized experience, extensive variety to attract customers, avoiding brand dilution, customer data and insight, improved margins, and a dedicated shopping environment. 

Various brands at the international level have entered in D2C model be it accessories, clothing, nutrition, personal care, home, or travel. And, many brands in India too are taking these advantages of producing and distributing the products in their facility in different verticals, Mamaearth (skincare), WOW (wellness and personal care), Zissto Sauces (food), Everpret (fashion), Bewakoof (fashion and e-commerce) and many more in the list to join. 

Customers expect you to be available everywhere, and thus brands have to embrace the concept ‘direct-to-everywhere’. 

A recent survey by Harvard business review shared that, “73 percent of 46,000 customers used multiple channels during their shopping journeys before deciding to make a purchase” and 88 percent of consumers engage in ‘webrooming’, confirmed by Accenture in its recent survey. 

It’s time for brands to take the challenge head-on and redefine their business model. 

Time to be the Guardian of Customer Experience

Manufacturers always had plenty of routes to market their product, today D2C has just become an integral part of modern retailing. 

In one of the recent surveys done by Barclays, there was an evident trend and statistics mentioned that “tech-savvy manufacturers who had adopted a Direct-to-Consumer strategy, stand to gain £13bn in revenue in the next five years and 7 in 10 (72 percent) believe selling D2C (DTC) is good news for both consumers and manufacturers”. 

Brands boarding D2C strategy have to control product, sales, customer, operation, marketing, and technical aspect of their product and services to ensure future growth. 

Direct customer access is a vital strategy in the case of sharing product details with customers for many reasons, showcasing a full and extended product range is much easier via one’s website, and providing recommended retail price provides the opportunity to maximize margin. 

To achieve a good sales figure, it’s important to ensure a good customer and user experience through e-commerce, app, and the online marketplace. Moving towards D2C demands more support for customer handling queries and operational support. And to further develop a strong marketing plan, D2C demands from brands to be at the top in search. Thus, offering a direct approach is making brands work for their relevance on their own from designing growth strategy to executing sales, and winning customers for life.