How to start your D2C journey Direct to consumer (D2C) commerce is booming in popularity, and the lockdown of traditional retailers only fuelled this growth. But starting your D2C journey requires more than a website, marketing team and online sales channel expert; it requires D2C fulfilment.
Shipping speeds, tracking information, order updates, delivery locations, and branded boxes all need thought, planning and action. To help, we’ve created this guide on how to start your D2C journey: the fulfilment edition, covering:
The essential components of D2C fulfilment
- The essential components of D2C fulfilment
D2C fulfilment differs significantly from retailer or wholesaler fulfilment - you already know that. But you also need to know exactly how much it varies so you can properly assess your existing supply chain and identify where changes must be made.
- The different D2C fulfilment methods
The main components to consider for D2C fulfilment are:
- What to look for in a D2C fulfilment partner
Technology integrations
Recap: what is D2C, and why is it so popular? Direct to consumer commerce is when a brand sells products directly to the end customer. This removes the middle wholesaler or retailer. D2C commerce has grown in popularity thanks to successful brands including GHD, Caspar and the Dollar Shave Club. Now, existing brands want in the on the action to benefit from: - Complete control over branding, pricing and the customer experience - Larger profit margins with no middle-person cut - Ownership of the customer relationship and data - Future-proofing for the demise of the high street and popularity of D2C
Whether your business’ D2C strategy involves a single ecommerce platform or multiple online marketplaces, you’ve suddenly got new technology to work with. It’s essential that the sales channels used effectively integrate with your WMS, ERP system and accounting software, to promptly download orders, update statuses, upload tracking information and configure your inventory. Optimized warehouse space Not only do you need additional warehouse space to store your D2C inventory, but this space must be properly optimized to allow for efficient and fast shipping. You’ll be locating items, packaging orders and printing shipping labels under tight deadlines; your warehouse flow must accommodate this.
Contributor: Synergy Retail Support
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