Doing Business in Bentonville Podcast Episode Alert
Our good friend and colleague, Scott Benedict, who produces the popular Digital Front Door podcast series for Doing Business in Bentonville, invited me to talk about our recent global DTC study from the Ebeltoft Group, Direct to Consumer: 10 Keys For Brands To Master Their Retail. Our wide ranging discussion can be viewed on YouTube here, or you can download the podcast episode.
Why is this global DTC study relevant today? While the consumer direct revolution has been happening steadily for decades, it appears that we’re on the cusp of next generation Digital First strategies. This includes traditional branded manufacturers who have seen success of their DTC efforts to date and are taking this to another level; or DTC brands that are opening physical stores or other revenue channels beyond their core business model. Overall, we observe many consumer brands taking a balanced approach to “be where the customers are” by managing a portfolio of revenue channels, often integrated through omnichannel programs and capabilities refined through many seasons of digital transformation.
As retailing globally continues to embrace innovation and customer experience management as keys to brand building and strategic differentiation, brands are establishing new ceilings for their DTC potential. Brand case studies in the report include Salomon, the lifestyle and sports brand, and our clients at Hunter Fan, who have intentionally focused DTC strategies as growth drivers in select international markets. The DTC ambitions for some brands are growing with their success to date, so we expect to see more brands shift resources accordingly as priorities evolve.
At the same time, Scott and I discussed the well-known Nike case study, where their initial pivot to DTC abandoned wholesale relationships and had a negative impact on the brand performance, so repairing some of those wholesale channels partnerships has been their recent focus. This demonstrates the dynamic nature of brands’ DTC efforts; and why we expect to see continued testing followed by rollouts at scale for successful implementations.
There is clearly no “one size fits all” solution for a brands’ DTC strategies. Each company is different, and we expect to see winners and losers from these next generation DTC efforts. How are your DTC strategies evolving and what are the priorities in your company? We welcome more discussions on this topic and look forward to hearing your opinions.
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