Written by Sven Van Hoorebeeck
Direct-to-Consumers is the new Holy Grail for FMCG and manufacturers. Digitally native companies, such as Dollar Shave Club [1], Casper [2], or Glossier [3] have already capitalized the first-mover advantage in the 2010s’ years; now incumbents want to join the dance.
Like with everything digital natives do, they make it look easy, but it is not! D2C activities imply new capabilities for traditional B2B/B2C companies.
An optimized e-commerce platform
The e-commerce platform is the equivalent of a physical store in the digital world. The experience you provide to visitors determines whether they buy your products or not.
What are the goals of an optimized website?
Trigger envy thanks to visuals and website’s structure
Provide all the relevant information for purchasing decision
Make the purchase effortless in terms of clicks and procedure
Adapt to customers based on experimenting and A/B testing
An effective digital marketing strategy
Digital marketing is the online equivalent of advertisement panels in the physical world. They bring visitors to your website. Nowadays, it is difficult to stand out given all the advertisements on the internet.
How to make your marketing campaigns successful?
Target the right population and use the most effective channels to reach them
Provide creative and engaging content to your customer, create a community instead of plainly displaying advertisements
Run experiments to test angles and continuously adapt content to boost conversion rates
A truly effective strategy captures customers’ and visitors’ data to optimize marketing campaigns and increase traffic flows to the internet platform.
An integrated logistics network
The logistics network is key to deliver the promised value to your customer. Customers have high expectations regarding the speed of delivery and quality of service.
What should be considered when setting up an integrated logistics flow?
Anticipate the demand, factory’s production capacity, and required stock levels upfront. Keep in mind the packaging for a D2C model might be different from traditional activities
Plan the logistic flow according to geographical areas, the promised delivery delay, and the delivery costs
Select the fulfillment model that fits your needs: fulfillment partners, e-fulfillment, or own logistic activities
Interconnected foundations ensure the road to success
Inevitably, those three capabilities must be connected and integrated. What is the point of launching a marketing campaign if you do not have enough stock or your website bugs? It requires excellent cooperation between the streams.
The companies that successfully take on this challenge will be rewarded by higher margins, better control over their brand, and proximity to their customers. This is the reward for those who find the holy grail of D2C! Want to know more? Let’s discuss!
[1] https://www.dollarshaveclub.com/
[2] https://casper.com/
[3] https://www.glossier.com/
[4] https://shop.schesir.com/