October 25, 2021 
Over the era, there has been a high tide in how some brands are reaching their potential customers. Instead of employing wholesalers or retailers, direct-to-consumer brands are reaching out directly to the customer.
Direct-to-consumer companies desirably look after the needs of the customer. D2C brands eliminate the need for browsing and choosing from hundreds of options, offering a hassle-free shopping experience to them.
The D2C model plummets the need for middlemen to promote their products. So they advertise and distribute their own products, by interacting directly with customers and providing a seamless start to finish buyer’s experience. This allows them to cut down the cost of the people associated with the chain and so does the cost of the product.
For consumers who look for effortless shopping, choosing Direct to Consumer over traditional buy is the prerequisite.
What is direct-to-consumer marketing?
Direct to consumer marketing is when a company sells its products or services directly to the consumers. The marketing platform could either be social Media, Podcasts, YouTube, but options like a magazine, billboards, TV, etc are not the key.
As not many people are not involved in the process, the Direct to Consumer channel needs to sustain the possibility of marketizing their own productions using innovation.
With the emergence of new marketing tools and techniques, D2C is coming up with the idea of building brand affinity by fostering their relationships with the customers- understanding their needs and reaching a more intended and appropriate audience.
By holding on in charge of the buying and selling process, Direct2Consumer takes over the advantage of being the sole creator of their products or services and so more focus is on the consumers. D2C brands typically ship their products or services to the consumers themselves for which they have to connect with retail locations or likely many well-established brands have pop-up shops or factory outlet stores to go-down or Warehouse their overstocks.
Benefits of taking your brand direct to customer
The pandemic and heavenly lock down restrictions have given rise to the Direct to Consumer trend with more brands coming up with their own websites. It’s no secret that brand websites have bench marked a growth of 94% in Q4 2020 in response to the same period last year.
There are many reasons plus to why D2C is the need of the time.
Cut the middlemen and cut the cost
When you cut down various minds that stand between you and your valuable buyers, you are also cutting lots of costs involved in your profit. For instance, if you wish to sell toothpaste and you choose various retailers for this, you have to mark the price low for them to add on their price and sell it to the customers. This means you are significantly reducing your profit margin, which is your profit in relation to the cost of your goods.
Control your brand’s story
Selling up your sole product or services to a third-party distributor means sharing a part of your innovation and giving control of your brand. But picking up D2C means holding on to the three marketing P’s: price, promotion, and placement by your own. You have the leverage to decide on the increase or decrease, in case, offer promotions, use your own sales tactics, and marketize it your very own way.
Connect with your customer
Relying on other retailers for your product can lead to missing out on a lot of data about your customer, which is the most important tool now. You may not learn a lot about your potential customers’ needs if you rely on other people in the way. But if you are the only one in charge of your services, you can actually dive deep into their likes and dislikes. Flexibility ensures that you deliver a better quality product to your customers and keep them guided in the place.
Decide your presence
Being D2C means you have the authority to decide for your push or pull marketing techniques including for your own sites or the channels where you sell. You have the sovereignty to move to different social media channels, use campaigns, and do more.
6 Most Popular Direct to Consumer Brands that are changing marketing rules
Dollar Shave Club
The brand got exposure from the viral wacky video talking about their razors being the best. Likely the brand had optimally utilized the content strategy and other resources for reaching the right demographic.
Glossier
This brand name has used the word authenticity in getting a loyal audience. Rather than working with other people, they instead allow their customers to create awareness about their products.
Warby Parker
This brand came up with the idea of making eyeglasses shopping a hassle-free experience. Their strategy allows users to get multiple pairs to try and return the ones they don’t find amusing. Choosing eyeglasses from the comfort of their home is Warby Parker’s way of marketizing its brand.
BarkBox
This brand name caters to the needs of its target audience who are urban dog owners and don’t get the time to shop for their dog. So, they send them boxes to customers every month to surprise them with their service providing dog products, services, and experiences. They have used impeccable marketing skills to stand out from the rest.
Casper
This mattress company simplifies the mattress buying process by providing one perfect-for-anyone mattress. For this, they have used non-traditional marketing methods to get customer attention and invest in methods that work on creating brand awareness and not on selling the products.
Blue Apron
Blue Apron is yet another D2C that aims to simplify the process of making healthy and local food for its subscribers. The brand had reached out to social media influences and big fat bloggers to promote its name. Using social media marketing can actually assist you in building trust with your audience if you lookout for the right influences and bloggers for you.
The takeaway
You might be wondering if switching to a new business model can flip in your favor or not. The answer is yes if you employ some of the best marketing strategies and align them with customer expectations, as used by these major eCommerce brands.
Got more queries on how to leverage the D2C concept to scale your business to new heights? Do connect with the experts at Vinculum right away!
