The new DTC: Delivering good fast, with purpose

Despite some differences, previous incarnations of DTC (Direct-To-Consumer) didn’t really provide an innovative leap forward for FMCG brands. They were essentially still one-way traffic and based on the simple premise of ‘get goods to customers, the end’. We believe the next wave of DTC will be collaborative, brand-building and inspired by something far older than mail order. In this report, we’re going to set out what DTC 3.0 means and how to take advantage of it. The questions we’ll answer: What killed the first two DTC models and how will DTC 3.0 be different? How has Covid-19 changed consumers’ needs and preferences with regards to DTC sales? What is the key new role DTC 3.0 should play for a brand today? What is the key functional difference between DTC 2.0 and 3.0? What will the new relationship between businesses and consumers look like? What should a brand base its business case for DTC 3.0 on? Right about now, all around the world, people are wishing they hadn’t unsubscribed from that delivery razor/make-up/foodbox service, as they find themselves queueing (virtually or actually) for supermarkets and missing out on the essentials of life during Covid-19 isolation. Will this lead to a renaissance of DTC? Yes, and no. In this report, we’ll set out its next incarnation. Following the demise of DTC 1.0 (mail order) and DTC 2.0 (single, novel products sold via subscription online), we predict that, as well as learning from its immediate predecessors, DTC 3.0 is going to look like something far older – the Silk Road. This ancient route wasn’t a simple country A to country B link – it was an interconnected network with each new country becoming a node that made it more powerful. This ethos offers far more opportunity than the traditional FMCG ‘hub and spoke’ distribution networks. It puts consumers not at the periphery as passive end-users but makes them part of the distribution network for both the product and the wider brand purpose. And that last part is key to our vision of DTC 3.0, because successful FMCG brands will be delivering far more than just goods and services. Get in touch to get your hands on a copy, click here.