A Comprehensive Guide on Unleashing the Power of the Direct to Consumer Model

Overview

Customer success has always been the holy grail for businesses since time immemorial. And, with the introduction of technological advancements, today’s tech-savvy customers are eyeing direct, personalized, and unprecedented access to the brands. No matter if it’s a consumer-packaged goods brand or apparel, fashion, or other brands belonging to varied consumer product verticals, customers would prefer to keep the buying process simple, easy, and hassle-free.

Here comes the role of a Direct to Consumer sales model, which essentially enables brands to sell their products directly to the consumer. Unlike the conventional sales model that leveraged a swath of producers, wholesalers, distributors, and retailers, the D2C model doesn’t involve any middlemen. In a nutshell, the D2C model is the go-to strategic initiative for brands that are eyeing to augment their physical market presence with a flair of digital nativeness.

With this blog, you will come to learn (direct to consumer guide)

• The significance of the D2C model for today, and tomorrow
• What makes the D2C model the ultimate strategy for conventional, and budding brands
• How to unleash the power of the D2C model

The Significance of the D2C Model

The business landscape has witnessed quite many paradigm shifts over the past decades. And, the beauty of this aspect is that we live in an ever-evolving world, where the customer demands, expectations, and needs change. Consumer-centric brands must evolve not only to fulfil the consumer expectations but also to anticipate the need, craft product portfolios, market them in a holistic manner, and ultimately ensure product fulfillment in an easy, quick, and seamless manner.

You might be wondering what has the D2C sales model got to do with anything? Well, as a brand when you sell your product to the end customer through the conventional sales and supply chain model, the other entities involved in the transaction stand to gain a chunk of your profit margin. Besides, there is no scope for you to directly understand, and interact with your consumer, gain insights into their buying behaviour, and perception of your brand. By leveraging the D2C model of sales, you can win over more customers than you would have anticipated as it is a win-win situation for both you and the consumer.

If you have been a legacy brand, you might be wondering whether this D2C model is here to stay for good or it’s also one of the many passing fads. While you can’t switch your business sales model on a whim, you can take a strategic, and calculated approach to D2C. And, before you apprehend its efficacy, D2C is going to rule the market in years to come as 2/3rd of the consumer segment is eyeing for one-to-one brand interactions.

The Ultimate Benefits of the D2C Model

If as a brand you are still undecided about the D2C model, here are some of the key benefits to check out.

Establish Omnipresence

In the times when customers are leaning towards multi-device and multi-platform usage, the need to be everywhere both online, and offline has become the cornerstone for brand success. With the D2C sales model, brands can nail an omnipresence. With a strategically crafted website, brands can sell their products 24/7, which can be further complemented by in-store physical presence. D2C enables brands to leverage push/pull marketing techniques, CRM solutions to gain deeper, actionable consumer insights, craft personalized communication with customers for both sales, and support-oriented with just a few clicks, etc.

Craft and Manage The Brand Story Relay

With no middlemen in the background, brands can relish a faster time-to-market for their products. As brand promotions reach direct to the consumers, there are fewer risks of getting the brand messaging mixed, or altered in any way. It’s much easier and faster to gain customer mindshare and loyalty with the D2C approach. Price, promotion, and placement, the 3 crucial P’s of marketing can be managed in an efficient manner by the brands.

Customer Connect

As much as the customers vying to get direct access to the brands, the same sense of urgency should be there on the brands’ part as well. Consumer-related insights such as their brand and product expectations, purchase behaviour, pattern, and history can help brands make their D2C approach a success. By directly connecting with customers, brands can have greater upselling and cross-selling opportunities. Brands can also opt for price and promotion A/B testing to rehash their sales strategies. With D2C, product promotion, sales, fulfillment and even cancellation can become effortless, seamless, and efficient.

How to Unleash The Power of the D2C Model

If you have decided to take a dive into this cutting-edge sales model, here are some of the key steps to navigate for ensuring success.

Take Stock of the Current Market Landscape

There could already be a stack of legacy brands that are offering similar products as you. So, before opting to go D2C, it’s essential to understand the need and efficacy for the same. Whether your target consumer are looking for direct brand interactions, whether there is a scope to rehash the product pricing, placement, or promotion, etc. are some of the key questions to ponder over.

Start Small and Simple

When delving into a new arena, it’s always good to start small, and simple, and the same goes for the D2C model. Rather than erecting a stack of new products, go to the market with a single product variation. This way, brands can ensure product differentiation, articulate the brand story, manage it holistically without allowing any scope for distortions.

Embrace Data

Data pertaining to customer buying behaviour is of utmost importance for brands to sustain in today’s ever-competitive market landscape. Since with D2C, brands are going to directly interact with their end customers, being ready to embrace data in all its forms is highly essential. And, customer-centric data acquisition, recording, and management should not be left to chance. CRM software should be leveraged judiciously to derive actionable and data-driven customer insights to better shape product marketing strategies.

By unleashing the true potential of data, brands can be available for their target and potential customers at select platforms, interact with them to understand their brand expectations, resolve order fulfillment, return, and cancellation-related grievances effectively.

Conclusion

The concept of D2C has got the immense potential for success and can be instrumental in crafting brand growth, when done right. This concept of customer success is here to stay for good, and thus, brands must get ready to unleash its true potential.

Got more questions on D2C? Do connect with the experts at Vinculum today!