Thinking About Selling Direct to Consumer? Here’s What You Need to Know.

• Author By Miva    |
• Posted on
• • July 25, 2019

The case for manufacturing brands selling direct to consumer has never been stronger. For the first time in history, all aspects of manufacturing, marketing, selling, and distribution can be managed by small, intelligently organized teams employing the latest eCommerce toolkit. A product’s total journey, from concept to unboxing, can be imagined and executed by a single entity.

Selling direct to consumer is when a manufacturer markets and sells their product to consumers, as opposed to through a third-party middleman. With no big-box retailer or online marketplace to siphon off margins in the middle, every independent merchant has the potential to achieve true market control. Businesses that don’t leverage the latest eCommerce tools to seize control of their own destiny will become subject to increasingly impossible distributor margins. These businesses may find themselves unable to remain competitive or viable in the evolving eCommerce climate.

Here’s what you should know if you’re considering making direct to consumer sales part of your business strategy.

Digitization means getting more done with less.

Smaller, leaner firms are now carrying more of the nation’s manufacturing. This shifting employee-to-output ratio clearly reflects the growing ability of smaller teams to produce more with the help of advanced management systems and software.

Sophisticated automation empowers every team member to accomplish more. Automating key processes gives your team more time and resources to invest in expanding the quality, reach, and distribution of your products.

It’s easier to be found.

Manufacturers don’t have to depend on third parties to market and sell their products anymore. The ubiquity of digital communication has led to stunning developments in the way all consumers find, research, and purchase products. With the rise of social media and search engine marketing, the cost of implementing an effective digital marketing strategy has plummeted and become more accessible than ever to manufacturers.

Manufacturer brands no longer need the marketing muscle of retailers or ad agencies to communicate directly with buyers. This allows for better development, more nimble marketing, and the ability for every manufacturer to establish their brand identity within their target market.

Online B2B Wholesale is still catching up.

Inefficient, outdated wholesale business practices are starting to take a noticeable hit from new direct sales channels. It’s up to each individual business to decide which side of this trend they want to be on. Seeing stalled growth in your wholesale revenue is not a red flag, it’s an opportunity.

You can close the gap between manufacturing and wholesale profits by using an integrated ecommerce platform to open direct sales to all available channels, including both B2B and B2C. By using integrated ecommerce software to manage and facilitate all levels of the supply chain, you can offer a unified omnichannel brand experience while collecting all profits from your product’s entire journey.

The Takeaway: Go Direct or Go Home

More and more manufacturers are realizing that they now have the power to sell products direct to consumer with unprecedented ease and effectiveness. Today’s manufacturers can design and control bespoke, automated eCommerce systems to manage many aspects of branding, production, sales, marketing, inventory, fulfillment, and customer service.

While it used to require an army of workers and a major cash investment to gain this degree of control over product development, sales, and distribution, a small team with the right eCommerce tools can now pull it off for a fraction of the cost.

For many manufacturers, selling direct is the future. To learn more about how you can adapt your business to take advantage of the changing eCommerce landscape, check out our free webinar:

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