India is home to 800+ D2C brands. The disruption to business-as-usual in the early days of the pandemic did little harm to this segment. Increased internet penetration and necessity has driven consumers to be more digitally adept. Result: several D2C brands are seeing an upward graph in their sales growth from multiple revenue streams. Essentially, in a D2C business model, the middle sellers are taken out of the equation, thereby enabling brands to establish a direct connection with their intended consumers.

Therefore, such brands can be a fly on the wall and know what can help them shape better customer experiences. Besides, customers too are making their brand preferences clear, inclining towards those that adhere to quality and sanitation standards when it comes to their product line, shipping times and post-delivery experience.

To go by the figures, in 2020, there was an 88% YoY increase in demand. If the projections are any good bet, the number of online shoppers will shoot up by 2.5 times in the next 5 years.A traditional supply chain comprises of manufacturers, suppliers, wholesale sellers, retailers and distributors.

To lay it down, this means that the same product is sold several times internally between different parties, requiring lengthy negotiations. While D2C brands sell from their native websites, it is true that they also use eCommerce marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart and social media platforms to push their products.

This clearly means that the percentage of direct to indirect sales varies. Direct-to-consumer (or D2C) start ups have the advantage of putting up their product on sale at lower costs while retaining control over the marketing and distribution of products. Unlike traditional retailers, D2C brands can experiment with their distribution models, opting for in-house or third party order fulfillment. These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to analyzing the potential of a D2C brand.