Since the early 2000s, social media has become a fixture of modern life. Businesses can now communicate directly to their customers in ways previously unimaginable. This forges new pathways and possibilities for the direct to consumer business model (D2C). More and more new food companies are looking to gain grassroots support without spending big marketing costs on brick and mortar retailing. The experts at HSR Associates are poised to help you capture major sales through this innovative business model.
What is the Direct to Consumer Business Model?
D2C companies market, produce, and ship directly to consumers without relying on retail middlemen. This allows D2C companies to sell their products at lower costs, and to have control over production, marketing, and distribution. It also means they can experiment! D2C brands might open pop-up shops or launch a stealth marketing campaign. They can entice people with a highly limited selection of exceptional products (or even just one product), and pay social media “influencers” to promote them to millions of potential consumers.
You’re probably familiar with some of the most successful D2C brands: Soylent, Casper, REI, and Barkbox are just a few examples. Companies like Nike are also focusing on their direct to consumer sales strategy, even while they still sell through other retailers.
What Makes D2C Different?
D2C is all about thinking outside the box about how to market a food product. Here are a few things that make it different from the traditional retail model:
Going Straight for the Heart
When a new food company pitches their products to a retail buyer, that buyer has to carefully consider the investment. They’re thinking about…
- Dollars and cents
- Concrete ways the product may or may not meet their consumers’ needs
- Whether or not carrying the product makes sense for them
But a direct to consumer business model aims straight at the consumers’ desires and impulses. Great D2C marketing captures an audience so successfully that the retail middleman isn’t needed. This means your product doesn’t have to compete against all the other products vying for spots on the supermarket shelves.
Building a Relationship
Customers respond when a brand tells a story directly to them. Even with great food package design, it’s hard to stand out when competing against hundreds of other products on the shelves. Selling directly to consumers means you can control your messaging. You can tell your story in a way that appeals to your specific consumer base.
Shaping the Customer Experience
Consumers are demanding a more seamless shopping experience. B2B makes it easier to collect important data about their consumers’ behaviors. A business doesn’t have much say over how a distributor/retailer sells their products, but by selling directly to consumers, you can envision and execute the ideal customer experience.
D2C doesn’t work unless you know exactly how to reach consumers and gain their loyalty. Even though you don’t need to woo buyers and distributors, you won’t make it off the ground without an exceptional D2C marketing strategy. You’ll need an experienced consultant who understands how to put this model to work for your product.
Get a Taste of HSR Associates
Convincing someone to buy your product is sometimes less about the product itself and more about how it makes the consumer feel. This is especially true in a direct to consumer business model. HSR ASSOCIATES specializes in developing new food products and bringing them to market. We provide all the services necessary, from Kitchen To Marketplace. Contact us today at steve@hsrassociates.net.
More great ideas to come from our food product development experts! Stay tuned…………..