Manufacturer D2C Market Development
When it comes to D2C, or direct-to-consumer business model, many of our clients are manufacturers who provide items to distributors or a distributor network, and there may be groups of manufacturers providing their items to distributors. Some companies sell into a B2B space or have a B2D, business-to-distributor, sales model. (DTC or D2C is where manufacturers or suppliers sell directly to the final consumer, which can be the end consumer or other businesses).
Cutting out the middle person, for which there are multiple layers of intermediate steps, and creating a direct business model can be really powerful in improving the bottom line. The money saved can be reinvested to provide more value to the end consumer or final customer. Doing this digitally through a direct-to-consumer marketplace is an effective solution to allow the business or manufacturer to scale up and provide higher quality overall as the DTC company sells products.
Client Project
D2C marketplace for manufacturers who sell directly to the end consumer.
Project Details
To make the direct-to-consumer marketplace successful, the eCommerce marketplace software needs to be effective in bringing in site traffic for their particular set of products. The manufacturer needs to be able to rely on the marketplace to consistently sell their products so they don't take a hit to their top-line revenue.
Utilizations
Vetting Sellers and Products:
Making sure there's enough traffic to meet the manufacturer's demand includes a combination of things. Number one is showing the marketplace is trustworthy and credible, which means vetting the manufacturers selling on the platform and the quality of their products before incorporating them into the marketplace.
Digital Marketing:
Digital marketing helps bring a lot of traffic to the site and establishes a certain amount of credibility to the marketplace platform. It helps to work with a marketplace development company who really understands the market.
Key marketing strategies include long-tail SEO, newsletters, transactional-based emails to marketplace members, product promotions, branding, and customer behavior analysis. Delivering a creative approach that highlights the value the marketplace brings is key to staying top-of-mind with potential customers.
Logistics Support:
A lot of the manufacturers aren't equipped to execute the logistics at scale and with timeliness and attention to customer service. This is something the marketplace eCommerce platform can help guide.
It can even include training and tutorials in the onboarding process, and give constant administrative support that's available through the marketplace platform. It could also have recommendations based on their performance with customer reviews and feedback.
Connect with Consumers:
In a D2C business, it's important that the marketplace enables the manufacturers to connect with the consumers and fulfill their expectations.
Customer preferences can be simple, but they're important to ensuring the marketplace remains credible and highly ranked, giving the manufacturer every opportunity to grow their footprint within the market.
This is something marketplace analytics, that are integrated and built right into the platform, can give valuable customer insights on.
What Will Your Marketplace Provide?
No matter your marketplace business model, it's vital that your marketplace provides value to the sellers and buyers on your platform. Catering the marketplace to the audience is key to success. With the right market development strategy, your B2B, B2C, C2C, or D2C marketplace can become a popular and lively hub.
When starting a marketplace platform, you'll want to ask yourself: What's the value my marketplace will bring to platform users? How will my marketplace stand out from the others? How will I go about implementing the features and functionality required for success?
When it comes to providing value, Clarity's marketplace eCommerce platform is one of the best. We can get you up to speed on the latest best practices, software, and integrations.