The e-commerce sector in India has been on a high growth trajectory in recent times. As per a recent report, the e-commerce industry in India that was valued at $50 billion in 2018 is projected to reach a value of $200 billion by 2027. A key area where the Ecommerce sector has witnessed a boom is D2C.
The unprecedented growth can be principally attributed to the rapid technological advancements and enhanced internet penetration that have ruled the last decade. The recent advent of the Covid pandemic has only added fuel to the developmental processes further.
As the e-commerce sector soars in the country, an increasing number of businesses resort to the online medium to keep pace with the ever-evolving times. D2C, in this circumstance, has emerged as a go-to strategy for large brands that sell through retailers and wholesalers. This strategy enables big corporations to establish direct contact and communication with the end customers and thus aids their marketing and customer servicing operations.
New-age marketing strategies to scale D2C brands
In this scenario, the D2C strategy has gained prominence in the e-commerce market. By eliminating the need for any middlemen, D2C enables brands to reach their customers directly and hence increases customer satisfaction and even facilitates brand loyalty. Additionally, the riddance of middlemen also widens profit margins for the brands. Thus, D2C, because of its several benefits, is growing exponentially in today’s time. Below is a list of some ways in which the existing D2C brands can leverage their position to formulate a marketing strategy that will help their business scale.
Infuse cutting-edge technology into E-commerce
Digitization dominates our lives in the present times. Infusion of technology has, thus, become more of a necessity for businesses than a choice. However, merely adding tech into operations does not suffice to give an edge to a business. A brand must constantly upgrade and enhance the technological solutions to extract the maximum benefits from tech deployment. The use of cutting-edge technologies such as MACH architecture, SPA, headless commerce solutions, and fully integrated platforms are some of the prime options that are being leveraged today by D2C platforms to help build the most innovative solutions.
Personalizing the customer experience
A D2C brand stands apart from the rest owing to the direct contact that it has with the customers. This facilitates first-hand communication and transparency and allows marketers to provide a customized shopping experience to their customers.
Adopting the D2C model enables brand marketers to have direct access to the consumer data which helps them devise the right strategies to personalize the customer experiences and eventually upscale their profit margins. The customer data plays an integral role in curating and implementing new-age marketing solutions for the future that would effectively influence the target audience.
Personalization of processes can make customers feel heard and seen. This further paves the way for customer satisfaction and loyalty. The image and sales of a brand can improve significantly if it enjoys strong loyalty from its customers as it can not only bring repeated sales but also new leads through word of mouth and recommendations.
Hyperlocalization is the key
Hyperlocalization is a fast-growing trend in e-commerce that involves tailoring the products and services as offered to the tastes and preferences of the natives and locals of a place. In today's world of globalization and the internet, the options available to the customers are only increasing. Thus, there is a need for businesses to gain an edge. This is where hyperlocalization can be capitalized upon. By providing website content in regional languages and by customizing marketing processes to suit the cultural and emotional norms of the target audience, a D2C brand can significantly deepen its presence in a certain community or region and gain loyal customers.
Engaging content
Engaging and immersive content is at the core of every marketing strategy. A brand, to maximize the practical impact of its efforts, should seek to make its content and other functions more interactive and fun. Content that has the potential to go viral will indeed garner maximum brand visibility and will also help boost sales.
Seamless omnichannel buying options
By providing the customers with a multi-channel shopping platform, D2C brands increase the overall ease and efficiency of the customer experience. The shopping processes need to be seamless and streamlined to achieve the same. An omnichannel D2C model provides just the same- uninterrupted experience and practical services to the customers. A Direct to Consumer brand with its user-friendly website and applications (available on both android and iOS) can facilitate multi-vendor and multi-store networks of shopping. The purchasing process can also be simplified by offering multi-currency and multi-modal payment options on the online platforms of the D2C brand.
Businesses and brands across the globe have adopted the digital route in recent times. The widespread use of smartphones, deep internet penetration, ease and inexpensiveness of the internet, along with robust technical developments are some of the factors that have facilitated the growth of everything digital in today's times.
In this circumstance, D2C platforms are gaining rapid popularity due to their several benefits such as increased profits, time-effectiveness and brand loyalty. Large scale businesses from around the globe are widely adopting D2C strategies to expand into the fast-growing e-commerce market. However, simply adopting popular marketing strategies does not suffice, a D2C brand has to make marketing strategies that are at par with the existing market trends. Thus, it is essential for businesses to approach the marketing function in a well-thought, systematic manner.