Did you know that, in 2021, D2C e-commerce sales reached 128 billion U.S. dollars in the United States and that the market size is expected to grow to almost 213 billion dollars by 2024? (Statista, 2023).
Wondering what D2C marketing is?
D2C marketing stands for direct-to-consumer marketing. It is a business model that might be suitable for your eCommerce store.
We understand that deciding which business model to follow is a significant decision; therefore, we are here to help you with that.
In this article, we will discuss what D2C marketing is and how it works. We will also look at its advantages and the best marketing strategies to use. Finally, we will present some inspiring examples of eCommerce brands adopting the D2C model.
Table of contents:
D2C marketing, or Direct-to-Consumer marketing, is defined as an approach adopted by businesses that wish to eliminate the need for an intermediary and sell their products or services directly to consumers. The intermediaries referred to here include retailers, wholesalers, or distributors.
In other words, D2C is a strategy businesses use to stop relying on intermediaries, interact with their customers directly, and use their digital channels to have control over the entire process.
Bypassing intermediaries and selling products or services directly to consumers makes D2C marketing a comprehensive approach that requires eCommerce businesses to focus on several crucial elements, such as:
Now that you understand the meaning of D2C marketing, it is time to discover its many advantages. E-commerce businesses that choose to sell directly to their consumers enjoy many benefits that we will tackle in the following points.
1- Increased Control Over Different Aspects of the Business
As we mentioned earlier, adopting a D2C approach means that you’ll have a significant amount of control over many aspects of the business, such as:
2- A Huge Amount of Customer Data
Don’t get bored of reading about customer data in D2C just yet!
We’ve already covered that a D2C brand needs to depend on a rich database, that gathering all that customer data requires a lot of effort, but that the brand gets complete control over that data.
With such control over such an amount of data, an eCommerce brand can enjoy so many benefits:
Speaking of segmentation and customer data, Converted.in offers a marketing automation tool that can automate the customer segmentation process and gather all your customer data in one place with a 360-degree customer view.
3- Stronger Relationships With Customers
Having direct interaction with customers helps build stronger relationships with them. Customers like to feel they can directly communicate with an eCommerce brand without going through someone in the middle. That spreads the idea that you are reachable and accessible to your customers, which makes them trust you even more. Trust is the key to the success of relationships with your customers.
Moreover, a D2C brand is in charge of the entire customer experience, which means it is the only party responsible for responding to customers at all touchpoints. If managed correctly, it can help the eCommerce brand develop a stronger relationship with its customers.
4- Opportunities For Expansion
As an eCommerce brand with a D2C business model, you are responsible for your own destiny. That means you can work on a national level or expand internationally. The advantage that the D2C approach offers is that when you decide to leverage the available expansion opportunities, you are not committed to nor constrained by intermediaries. You can choose to expand whenever, wherever, and however you want.
5- Increased Revenues
Having zero intermediaries means you don’t have to share your profits with anyone, which means more revenues for your eCommerce store. In other words, one of the advantages of a D2C business model is that you capture the total retail price of your products or services.
After discussing the advantages of D2C marketing, it is time you get to know the best marketing strategies that ensure the success of this business model, which is what we will be tackling in the following points.
D2C marketing is all about connecting with your customers on a deeper level. For an eCommerce business to do that without the help of any intermediaries, it must understand the market very well.
Understanding the market entails:
The previously mentioned points are essential for any eCommerce business to have a successful D2C business model, and the way to reach them is through a proper understanding of the market.
With a D2C business model, you need all the marketing and advertising help you can get. Therefore, we advise you to diversify your marketing techniques and your advertising channels.
By diversifying your marketing techniques, for example, you can use a mix of FOMO and scarcity marketing techniques, which have proven to be very effective in increasing conversion rates if used correctly and moderately. However, real diversification will appear when you combine such marketing techniques with others, such as cross-selling and up-selling. So, choose the marketing techniques suitable for your business, but try to employ some diversification for better results.
As for diversifying your advertising channels, for example, you can use a mix of:
Speaking of email marketing, the tool offered by Converted.in can create, personalize, launch, and automate all your email marketing campaigns.
We can’t advise you to diversify your marketing channels without telling you to adopt an omnichannel approach. It aims at engaging customers and keeping them loyal to the brand.
It entails offering products or services to customers simultaneously across all channels, platforms, and devices while ensuring that the message transmitted is the same everywhere.
The goal is to create a strong connection between the online store, social media platforms, mobile application, physical store (if applicable), and other channels to reach customers wherever they are and offer them a connected, seamless shopping experience.
** Check out these 10 omnichannel marketing examples for inspiration.
As a direct-to-consumer eCommerce brand, you are on your own when it comes to giving your customers social proof. In other words, your online store, social media platforms, emails, and other channels are the only sources where customers can get social proof.
In addition to influencer marketing, which we mentioned previously, customer testimonials can be a great way to give customers the social proof they need to trust your D2C brand.
Lead generation is of high importance to any direct-to-consumer brand. D2C brands should leverage all possible lead-generation techniques to build their customer base and, in turn, increase sales and customer retention.
One of the most effective lead generation techniques a D2C brand can benefit from is relying on lead magnets. Lead magnets are incentives offered to potential customers in exchange for their contact information, usually their email addresses or phone numbers.
However, generating leads isn’t enough. You have to work on nurturing these leads by developing your relationship with potential customers throughout each step of their buying journey.
** Check out this article to learn the best eCommerce lead magnet ideas to generate more sales.
Another way you can build stronger relationships with customers as a D2C brand is by collaborating with them. In other words, make your customers participate in developing your products or services.
When you make your customers a part of the process, you gain a lot of benefits:
If you plan on switching your eCommerce business to the D2C business model, you need to follow the lead of others who did. In other words, you need to look up other eCommerce brands that successfully implement D2C marketing to learn from them and get inspired.
Dollar Shave Club is an American company that delivers razors and other personal grooming products to customers by mail. It has an online store where customers can subscribe to the service. It is one of the best examples of a direct-to-consumer eCommerce brand.
This brand sells and delivers these razors and grooming products directly to consumers without the involvement of any intermediary retailers to distributors.
Glossier is another inspiring example of an eCommerce brand adopting the D2C business model and not relying on intermediaries.
It is a beauty and skincare brand that has managed to gain a lot of success by leveraging social media, influencer marketing, and user-generated content. However, instead of collaborating with mega influencers and celebrities, Glossier considers all regular women to be their influencers, which is why it is considered a community-driven beauty brand.