D2C Ecommerce Trends To Look Out For

D2C or Direct-to-Consumer businesses are gaining momentum. D2Cs are primarily those brands that manufacture and distribute their products or services directly to their customers. The explosive growth that e-commerce witnessed post-Covid provided an altogether new platform for companies to sell their goods and services. 2023 is about to come, and therefore, more businesses are willing to understand what will be the D2C e-commerce trends in the upcoming year. Let’s explore it!

D2C E-commerce Trends to Watch Out For in 2023

Following will be the prominent D2C e-commerce trends to watch out for in 2023:

Physical D2C Stores are Reality

There is a belief that D2C brands operate online only. However, it’s changing as the competition becomes stiffer. More and more D2C brands are ensuring an offline presence through physical stores as well. Physical presence helps target conventional buyers as well who haven’t shifted to online shopping yet. For instance, Sugar Cosmetics started as a D2C brand that also ventured into offline trade in 2017. It catered to both online and offline customers.

Creators and Influencers are New Brand Ambassadors

Earlier, television advertisements were popular because that’s where your customers were. However, as social media reigns, your customers have also shifted to social media platforms. Social media creators and influencers having thousands and millions of followers are influencing and leaving an impact in the minds of their followers. And that’s what is gaining the attention of the brands. Social media creators and influencers are becoming the new brand ambassadors.

Personalization is the Road to the Customer’s Heart

Personalization has always been the key to reaching customers’ hearts. Brands that know what their customers want are able to gain more popularity. Therefore, you shouldn’t be afraid to ask what your target audience wants. The more you can interact with your customers, the more personalized offerings you can deliver.

Fund to Grow

Opening a D2C brand is one thing; making it big is a whole different level. You need the right people and will require huge funds to scale and remain relevant. If outside funding can help you scale, don’t feel shy about finding the right set of investors. Further, they can catalyze your growth by providing you with good ideas, networks, and suggestions.

Subscription Models Are Important

More and more D2C brands are incorporating subscription-based models in some way. For instance, food-ordering apps like Swiggy or Zomato, have a subscription that helps you save delivery charges on each individual order.

How do You Ship?

As the world has shifted online for everything, logistics gained much-needed momentum. People can order almost everything online, from food to clothes, groceries, books, etc. However, customers expect free shipping and hence those charges get added to the cost of the goods and services. There are various ways to manage this though, like free shipping over a certain amount of spend.

Go For Livestream Shopping

Instagram rolled out its live stream feature way back, but now brands have started to use it to the fullest. Livestream shopping is gaining momentum and becoming popular among customers. Livestream shopping not only allows viewers to see the products in action but also allows them to purchase in real-time during the live streaming. However, it is important to properly strategize the live streaming because you don’t get to correct the errors that happen during the streaming.

Marketing is Key

How you create your marketing campaigns will be a huge factor in determining your brand’s performance. While a professional marketing campaign might be good, some personality and humor might go a long way for you. Understand the current marketing trend and study how different brands have used their marketing campaigns. How you present your brand is how your customers will remember your brand.

Part Ways with Traditional Demand Sensing and Inventory Management

The old ways of predicting demand and managing inventory are not relevant in today’s time. You need to find newer ways to respond to customer demands quickly. Brands need to be aware of the changing trends and what their customers want. Further, they need to manage their inventory such that they can meet the demands of their customers. As the shopping medium has changed, so should the way of forecasting demand and managing inventory.

Privacy Changes – The New Reality

Apple rolled out a new feature App Tracking Transparency (ATT). It gave users the authority to decide whether the apps on their phones could target them for ads. Users can opt-out by clicking on ‘Ask app not to track’. This posed a great challenge for target marketing, especially for Meta and Snap. 

These privacy changes put the power on users. Most of them decided to opt-out, making things difficult for advertising and social media companies. D2C brands relying on Facebook or other social media platforms must devise newer ways to increase their brand awareness and distribute their marketing budget. 

In A Nutshell

With the increasingly competitive landscape for D2C brands, they need to adopt newer ways to penetrate the market. Assessing customers’ requirements helps stay relevant today. Further, how you present your product will determine whether you will be able to attract customers. Product photos play an important role in the same.

You must create professional photos to present your product in the best light. Delete BG allows you to automatically remove and change the background of your product images. You can also choose among the thousands of templates supporting all the top e-commerce categories.