Direct to Consumer (D2C) e-commerce: Goals and strategies of brand manufacturers

Abstract

Contrary to expectations expressed in the 1990s, e-commerce has so far led to relatively little disintermediation. Even large and well-known brands continue to generate the majority of their sales through traditional distribution channels. However, many end customers expect to be able to buy directly from the brand. In addition, structural changes in the value chain have made it necessary to pre-sent the brand on the Internet in a brand-specific manner. Depending on the structure of their online activities, however, brand manufacturers are competing with their traditional indirect distribution channels, which remain important for them. This raises the question of which e-commerce strategies brands can use to meet the needs of end customers without harming their distribution partners. To answer this question, qualitative expert interviews were conducted with e-commerce managers of market-shaping Swiss companies. The results confirm that the importance of brand engagement in communication and interaction with end customers is increasing. For the implementation of online direct sales, three strategies have emerged that avoid or at least minimize conflicts with traditional sales partners: a pure online direct sales strategy, a multi-touch-point strategy, and a platform strategy. The multi-touch-point strategy can in turn be designed in four different variations.