Direct to consumer (D2C) is a new business model for established brands. Big brand manufacturers are cautiously considering this route for sales because of the possibility of disrupting their existing distribution partners.
FMCG has been a product-centric category. This means that if FMCG companies make good products, distribute them to retailers and inform consumers about their product, they can build a profitable business. While this was true in the past it has been largely changed by digital.
Consumers can find new brands easier
More product information and recommendations
There are many places to buy
Brands must adopt a consumer-centric mindset. One way to do this is to use consumer data to guide decisions.
Diffshop Thompson Commerce works with many well-known FMCG companies. It is often surprising to see how little data brands receive from retailers. The valuable data that retailers collect about consumers is often kept secret by retailers. Some retailers make money from this data, such as Dunnhumby in the UK and Tesco in the UK. Brands will no longer need to rely on retailers for data about their shoppers' buying habits.
In addition to conducting enough research on their customers, brands also conduct sufficient primary research about their market. This includes how they use different channels and what their journey looks like. This leaves brands with little insight into how digital channels can be used to address buyer triggers and barriers.
Ghislaine Prinsevers was Heineken's former Global Digital Marketing Director. She spoke at the IGD Digital conference last year* and stated that “To make Heineken successful in eCommerce, it is essential to fully understand all channels.”
“I don't think we know enough about our customers to be able to succeed. We must convince e-retailers that they should start sharing data. We need to understand the changing world and the changing shopper. You cannot understand this channel if you rely on intuition.
An eCommerce website that is DTC-enabled allows brands to gather insight about the customer journey. Here are some key points you can capture:
Onsite behavioral analytics data.
Brands can track visitor behavior through every step of the buying funnel by using free tools like Google Analytics. It is possible to track page visits so that site owners can see which products have received a lot of traffic but have not converted into sales.
Site search.
“Onsite Search”, which records the search terms visitors enter into the search bar, is a particularly interesting measure. This information can be used by brands to determine what customers are most interested in (e.g., information or products that are not readily available or easily found on the site).
Customer Reviews & Ratings.
Ratings and reviews are an integral part of most e-commerce websites. This is something brands should include on their DTC website. Reviews can provide valuable insight into what customers think about products, and what information they consider important when making a purchase decision.
Trends in purchasing.
DTC sites would keep track of order information, such as the most popular products and what products people typically buy together.
Primary Customer Contact Data.
DTC is a great way to get customer contact information. Brands can use actual customer data to create a CRM database for loyalty marketing activities.
Customer service inquiries.
Customer service inquiries can give insight into which aspects of the overall proposition need to be improved.
Data from DTC sites is being used by brands to improve their onsite content and experience, and to inform their NPD (new products development) pipeline. Some brands have begun to personalize their websites and incorporate insights into their digital marketing efforts.
We offer this guidance to brands that want to reap the full benefits of DTC:
Create a data strategy and plan. What do you want to learn and why? How will you use the information to drive action?
Identify the owner of the data – Who will analyze it? And who is responsible for taking action based on the insights provided by the analysis?
Our Digital Intelligence team at Diffshop.com specializes in providing data strategy for retailers and brands, while our Business Consultants assist brands with e-commerce strategies and operating models. Our team has extensive experience in managing DTC businesses. We can help you win in eCommerce. Contact us to learn more about our services.
To find out what consumers today want from retailers and brands, you can review the information on our website.
Diffshop is an all-in-one data platform for global e-commerce sellers focusing on data around the DTC e-commerce stores. We provide live e-commerce data monitoring around three main traffic channels: Organic (Shopify, Magento…), Social (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok…), and Search (Google) to help sellers in conducting competitor analysis, product research, SEO, listing optimization, ad creatives research and more Provider of BI, SaaS tool and services aiming to empower global e-commerce sellers. The company conducts real-time monitoring of independent e-commerce sites to help Amazon sellers to select products outside the site and help independent site sellers to do competitive product research.
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Diffshop is the ultimate destination for online shoppers looking to research and buy items from around the world for the different stores using the Shopify spy, Shopify inspector, Commerce inspector, Big Spy, and many more techniques. We are a global DTC e-commerce store research tool that provides consumers with detailed information about products, including price comparisons, shipping options, and consumer ratings and reviews. We offer a wide range of products from over 1,000 of the most popular online stores around the world. With Diffshop, online shoppers can easily find the best deals on the products they are looking for and make confident, informed decisions about where to shop.
