India's D2C Rush
As more and more consumer brands go digital to reach customers faster and carve a unique identity, India’s direct-to-consumer (D2C) moment is well and truly here. With thousands of brands competing in the D2C space, will this be the future of India’s retail market?
For decades, taking a brand to the end consumer meant multiple rounds of negotiations with suppliers, manufacturers, wholesalers, distributors and retailers — with so many cogs in the machinery, there was bound to be a big breakdown when even one is impacted.
Never before has this been more evident than during the pandemic when everything came to standstill. Many FMCG and consumer goods brands realised that the layers in the middle from manufacturer to consumer are not enablers but hurdles.
Because the sales process was dependent on third-party players, brands also lost out on timely customer feedback. But with ecommerce growing at an unprecedented rate and delivery of essentials through online platforms becoming the norm, the layers are slowly dissipating as brands are taking charge vertically.
Boosted by digital payments, app technology, cheaper data plans and the big push for digital consumers during the Covid-19 lockdown, more brands are going the direct-to-consumer (D2C) route, looking to control the whole stack with vertical integration — just like tech companies.
