According to a report by Statista, Director-to-Consumer (D2C) sales in manufacturing is forecast to increase 25 per cent in the next three years, reaching 120 billion pounds by 2023.
Today Mobiquity and E-commerce partner Spryker publish a report on findings of 27 D2C retail brands - across fashion, FMCG and OEM - to understand the extent to which omni-channels are being harnessed to drive D2C revenue opportunities.
The objective of the report was to understand what a successful D2C model should look like and how companies are benchmarking against best practice across 8 main criteria domains including product info; UX/UI; payment; service & support; pricing & loyalty models; delivery & returns; sales funnel and a customer ‘my profile' portal.
The research shows that retail companies are not fully exploiting their advantage as the brand manufacturer. The survey identified that brand manufacturers were underperforming on "Pricing and Loyalty models" and "Service and Support," when delivering an effective D2C channel strategy - and they scored less than 40% on over half of the D2C channel criteria. Meanwhile, progress was being made on maximising "UX/UI" and "Sales Funnel" capabilities.
Fabio Pereira, Digital Strategy Senior Consultant, Mobiquity: "The direct to consumer (D2C) business model is not a new trend. However, the recent advancements in digital transformation have prompted many business to consumer (B2C) companies to open separate D2C channels. Especially during the pandemic, B2C companies felt the pressure and dependency on big marketplaces, and the impossibility of reaching out to and understanding the shopper. The pandemic not only accelerated online shopping, but it also changed the way the average shopper looks at brands that are not in the digital space.
"The report has shown that manufacturers are not fully optimising their D2C model, failing to grasp the golden opportunity of generating additional revenue streams for their businesses. To be successful it's important that you have the right infrastructure in place.
"Making sure there's commitment and support from management to implement the D2C strategy is essential, while having the right talent to drive the change will hold the company accountable for the transition. It's important to stay agile and scale the D2C business model sustainably. Lastly, a good and fairly priced product are critical for achieving a positive sentiment. Meanwhile, the D2C model needs to be built on a composable technology stack to ensure it is adaptable to evolving customer expectations."
The report in full can be found here.
