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Making the move to direct-to-consumer sales can be beneficial but a big investment. Instead, you can take a gradual approach, testing the water.
If your business manufactures products, regardless of industry, then chances are you rely on a distribution network to sell to consumers. Whether that is via online outlets or bricks and mortar stores.
A regular feature that we as a WordPress Agency regularly implement is a ‘where to find us’ or a ‘stockist locator’. A feature that after dropping a postcode in, will display locations and stores that stock the items, nearest to the user.
This feature is also used for finding local depots or branches for nationwide brands, allowing customers to collect purchases or place orders in person.
However, since the pandemic, many manufacturers who have products that can be sold online, have begun exploring establishing a direct connection to the end user, by setting up eCommerce stores.
We are working on a project at the moment for a company that has several online stores selling their other product lines, so they’re fully aware of the investment involved in creating an eCommerce store.
They are introducing a fairly new product range, and they want to test the market as to whether consumers would actually prefer to buy direct from Amazon, over purchasing from one of their websites.
Amazon is the market leader in eCommerce. People buy with trust, they don’t need to add card details and sign up to yet another website (as most people are users already), and with any concerns over returns they have faith that Amazon will have their back.
It’s a difficult objective to achieve for any brand website, to try and encourage users to buy directly from them. So working with this, instead of against it, might help establish a connection for customers to begin the purchase journey with a brand.
Objective one is to have a faux eCommerce store, which lists product and product information, delivery information, and everything else you’d expect to see on an online store, but without the heavy lifting of payment and order processing.
The add to cart or buy now buttons simply open the Amazon PDP (product detail pages). You instruct the user that the purchase will be made via Amazon before they click through.
This is the dipping-the-toe aspect. Your order is through Amazon but via a storefront that is run and managed by you (so an indirect eCommerce sale).
Not rocket science, I know, but now I am sharing this week’s tool to explore.
Manufacturing brands cannon-balling into the pool and selling online (D2C) could have consequences in the form of upsetting existing distributors.
Selling online is dipping your toe to test the water, and the investment is far lower than a full blown eCommerce solution.
Providing an option to bring distributors into play, can keep everybody happy.
The Duracell website, for example, provides a modal/popup using a platform called Channel Sight. This works well because it allows your Amazon store to be visible, whilst also providing links to your online distribution partners too.
This gives the user choice over where they wish to buy from.
Other benefits include being able to link stock, and display which products are available at which stores. Making it even easier to know where products can be purchased from. I won’t go into any more detail, but you can take a look at Channel Sight for more information.
Other providers of a similar service are Adimo and Price Spider, who are also worth checking out.
Before you say it, I know, what about any bricks and mortar distributors you might have? They’ll still be having hissy fits that you are choosing to bypass them. The problem is, they’re probably considering moving online too, so it’s inevitable that this is going to happen. However, you can still add a piece to the journey to keep them appeased.
Add an option to the journey that serves users who may want the product today, or that would prefer to look at the product in person before buying. Give them the choice between viewing local stockists for collection, and online retailers where they can purchase for delivery.
Today’s key takeaway is simple. If you’re looking to sell online but don’t want the initial risk and outlay, then the above-mentioned strategy can help you.
a) Your users will know they can buy from you, even if it isn’t directly. They come to your website initially, not a third-party distribution partner. This also lends an element of trust that they are buying a legitimate product from your brand when there is such a large market for fakes and knock-offs.
b) You can keep online distributors happy by including them in this journey.
c) You can also keep brick-and-mortar store distributors happy by not excluding them.
The long game is testing that water. If visitors and online sales continue to rise, you can review whether the investment into a full eCommerce presence is worthwhile, and slowly transition by introducing a buy direct button (taking the order on your website) whilst continuing to show the options allowing users to buy from distributors.
Trying to keep everyone happy is hard. If you have relied heavily on a distribution network for many years, it can be difficult to jump straight in at the deep end of direct-to-consumer sales.
If you’re a brand that’s considering trialling selling directly to consumers and needs a faux eCommerce site as discussed above, get in touch. We have experience building similar sites for leading UK manufacturing brands taking their first steps into the D2C world.
That’s a wrap for Swipe & Deploy #20. Join me next week when I’ll share another insight or piece of inspiration from around the web.
D2C is an abbreviation for Direct To Consumer.
A ‘faux eCommerce’ or ‘indirect eCommerce’ store, is a website that looks like a regular eCommerce store with product pages etc. However, instead of completing transactions on the website, purchasers are taken to an external website like Amazon, to complete their purchase.
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