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Direct to Consumer (D2C) phenomenon is one of the major zeitgeist in retail and startups. In theory it means brands which sell directly to consumers (through owned channel), it is differentiated from the traditional retail model of Brand -> Wholesaler -> Retailer -> Consumer. In practice, the difference is not as sharp and most D2C brands also leverage intermediaries.
D2C India market is expected to reach $100 Bn by 2025 with more than 1000 funded brands growing at CAGR of 25%. Given the D2C gold rush, was curious to know what D2C players esp those who are starting out, have on top of mind. The excellent sub https://reddit.com/r/ecommerce/ gives valuable insights to problems for new D2C owners. Below is a summary from 100+ threads
- Review my store. 17% of users post the url to the store and ask audience for feedback. Request to uncover UX issues, look and feel of the website, theme, improve on trust factors
2. Advice on Ecommerce platforms. 13% of users wanted advice on Niche products, custom builders, integrations with other tools, review of softwares, feature suggestions etc
3. Increase traffic/conversions to my site. 12% users want to know how to get customers to place orders, improving checkout experience, Get traffic for a new site, SEO tips etc.
4. Grow or scale my business . 9% users wanted to know how to increase sales through new Channels/marketplaces/advertising, website CTAs etc. Tips on first 100 sales Sales strategy including pricing, Boosting website. Quite a bit of overlap with the earlier point on boosting traffic or conversion
5. Ecommerce 101. 9% users wanted general ecommerce advice, how to start, what to read, which products to select, margin advice etc
6. Ads. 7% users. I expected this to be right at the top, maybe the stress on organic traffic is high initially. General questions on ad platforms, RoI, how to set up ads, display ads, Account issues/blockages/ agencies to be used
7. Inventory and logistics. 6% users wanted to know how to do inventory planning and management, tools which can help, shipping cost and recommendations specifically for cross border or niche products
8. Payment. 5% users wanted to know how to set up payment gateway, currency conversion advice, crypto gateway has started coming up
9. Third party logistics ~5% users . Good warehouse for 3rd party fulfilment, cross border shipping esp from China and to Europe, issues with inventory missing or wrong quality
10. Content marketing — 4%. How to grow audience on social media, which channel works best. Several questions on Tik tok as a channel
11. Sourcing — 4%. Sourcing niche items, issues with factories — timelines and MOQ. Was expecting bit more on this, maybe in the initial days the idea is to sell all you have
12. Digital/Service ecommerce — 4%. Looks like ecommerce for services and digital goods like pdf, music is also picking up. Questions on limiting downloads, custom requirements for ecommerce platforms
13. Others -6%. Influencer marketing, taxes, returns and best practices
That’s it folks. Even though the audience is mostly US based, the pain points seem universal especially since everyone is on Shopify/Woocommerce. Hope people building for D2C/Ecommerce find it useful