November 2, 2021 
As the evolution of e-commerce continues to scale up, more and more brands are going direct-to-consumers- in part to build meaningful relationships with customers. But what does the term imply? And what are the strategies, benefits of selling DTC?
Direct-to-consumer is widened to selling directly to the end customers thereby bypassing any third-party retailers, wholesalers, or any middlemen. Just simply, it is all about focusing on the needs of the consumer rather than just offering what you have in hand. Many well-known brands, and in fact, legacy brands are coming forth to keep up with innovation and movement amongst digitally native vertical brands (DNVBs).
Why are e-commerce Businesses going for D2C?
With changes in consumer buying habits, the era has been more digitized than ever. Consumers are buying more and more online, and explicitly moving to the source itself, for instance moving to the brand’s website directly or walking to the stores.
Adopting a direct-to-consumer model helps them take charge of the entire process, from manufacturing to shipping and delivering. D2C business models manufacture and deliver directly to buyers without keeping an additional layer in between. The advantage? The brand has direct control over the making, marketing, and hence the cost of the product is also minimized than traditional consumer brands.
Said this, D2C brands have the leverage to go about experimenting with distribution models, from shipping directly to consumers to opening shops to partnering with retailers. Likely, there is less scope for relying on traditional retail stores for marketing.
Advantages of switching to a direct-to-consumer sales model!
Complete Control Over Brand Portrayal
With a stronghold over your brand and its marketing strategies, you are able to build a strong presence in the marketing. You choose how to sell your product and services and remove the distortion in conveying your brand message to your customers.
Increase Brand Loyalty
With all the knowledge of your customer’s buying habits, you can actually work on their needs and requirements and deliver the best to them. As customization is the key to marketing these days, by switching to their wants, you get extra loyalty points for your brand.
Own customer data
When you sell your products to a wholesaler or retailer, you have limited information about your customer’s preferences. Going D2C means, owing to your customer information. Web analytics lets you know how shoppers interact with your social presence. Demographics let you understand their shopping habits and patterns. The more you know about them, the better you will be able to evolve your products or services to meet their demands
Utilizing Omnichannel Technology
Another significant advantage of going D2C is that brands are no longer required to stick to a single platform to maintain sales when you have clarity of what your customers are shopping for, you also have visibility on where they are shopping from the most.
Increase Profit Margins
The most likely advantage of going D2C is the increasing business profit margins. When you outgrow the traditional business model, you cut down a part of the hefty cost involved in middlemen, bringing you less or no profits. D2C business works on the idea of self-service, which bypasses the intermediaries, making it easier for you to pocket extra profits.
Key strategies on adapting Direct to Consumer (D2C )
By implementing a D2C business model, ensure that your brand has visibility, strong customer support, offers easy buying options, and efficient logistic services.
Here is some help:
- First thing first, design and optimize your website and focus on D2C techniques which favor developing quality products and services. This should include but is not limited to running marketing and advertising campaigns to improve your clientele and enhance brand loyalty at the same time.
- Make a healthy balance between marketplace and website selling. Use marketplaces to derive sales and website selling to generate brand narrative.
- Build an impeccable delivery service. Allow them the leverage to shop anywhere they are instead of blocking the brand service to certain channels.
- Online presence on social media platforms leaves you in charge of how a brand should be perceived by the customer. Make the best use of it to improve customer loyalty.
- Have a dedicated team to analyze customer demographics, learn their expectations from you and create a road map to reaching out to them.
Direct to Consumer (D2C) eCommerce Solution
Now that you have learned about the benefits of D2C, you certainly would want to switch to earning branding with D2C. Don’t worry, Vinculum is there to help you with its expertise to ensure a smooth transition. The solutions by us have superfluously helped eCommerce business in enabling operations that result in growth, cost management, and enhanced productivity.
