𝐃𝟐𝐂 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐝. 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐬! The D2C space will grow at ~40% and has received ~$1-2 bn annually in funding for the last few years. Some flag-bearers are also listed and profitable, and others are on the path too. Of course, there are dozens of digital-first brands which have wound up, scaled down or stagnated through the funding winter over the last couple of years, but overall D2C seems to be thriving and far from dying. What I am suggesting here is that D2C brands have evolved to a stage where they can drop the “D2C” from their description, and build their future as just brands. The “Direct” was always dubious, with only a very small share of revenue from their own website/apps, as most relied on marketplaces for discovery and scaling over the last decade or so. “Digital-first” or “Differentiated” seemed more appropriate for most of this genre, as they focused on channels & niches which traditional brands had not discovered or exploited for various reasons. To my mind, digital-first brands, which have started up in the last 4-5 years, and which are doing so now, will have to do things very differently from the cohort which started up earlier in the last decade. There are several reasons for this: -Marketplaces are now much more cluttered (and expensive), and do not offer similar opportunity for discovery for new brands, that they did until a few years ago. -Hence, these brands have to go offline earlier than many of the earlier cohort did, and thus have to develop new capabilities -Going offline through trade or own stores, may require them to grow out of their niches as the long tail approach may not work offline -Tighter funding, along with higher costs of building brands, will restrict their options. Even as the funding environment improves, funding for new D2C brands may not recover quickly These will impact almost everything that a D2C brand does- product development, sourcing, distribution, supply chain & marketing – and increasingly take these brands closer to how traditional brands operate. Of course, as most of these brands target younger customers who may live by #notmyparentsbrands, they will continue to be different in their appeal & positioning - as even ‘traditional’ brands targeting youth always have been! So, traditional brands which are building digital capabilities, will converge with the digital-first brands as they go offline, and both will have to be omnichannel. Already many ‘traditional’ business houses have launched D2C brands, acquired them, or are investing in omnichannel, and soon these may be undistinguishable from the current D2C brands, and both will be …well, just brands! ******** 𝐆𝐨𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐨 𝐀𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐲 𝐒𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 assists brands with their D2C & omnichannel strategy & capability, by understanding customer journeys, creating robust processes, and utilising technology & data to engage customers. Let's connect! #d2c #omnichannel #o2o #ecommerce #d2cindia #brands
I see lot of sponsored items (I think ads) in market place.
Anjali Palod
6mo
Brands that started and tried to hold on to their D2C tags are realising that Indian consumers are not evolved enough to trust websites, they want to compare multiple options and shorter delivery times, making marketplaces a necessity for these brands. Wrote about this in March : https://www.thecore.in/business/india-d2c-industry-shopping-habits-4328133?code=9wlHR3xNoaYuOC389md5YJiK5HtIxq#
@rohit pandey Himanshu Rawal
Michael Ferrara
6mo
Vivek, thanks for putting this out there!
Founder & Chief Experience Officer @ Pepper Square, Creative & Biz Strategist, Entrepreneur, Wellness insights on Insta @MukiRegunathan, Fruitarian, Djembe Drummer
6moAkshayakalpa is a great example. They have more than 40,000 customers who buy their products from their mobile app. There dependency on marketplace and retail is only 30-40%.