It is critical to leverage the ecosystem to grow as a D2C brand: Atul Mehta of Shiprocket

The pandemic may have caused tectonic shifts in our lives, but some of them have proved to be more promising than ever. India has witnessed the mushrooming of several D2C brands; most of which have become significant success stories today. Taking inspiration from this breakthrough, there are many others who are all set to embark on this journey and build a notable brand. But what is it that makes successful D2C brands a cut above the rest?

To meet and explore new-age D2C brands, the Brands of New India (BONI) community, in association with Shiprocket, recently hosted D2C Carwaan in Indore, after successful meetups in Chennai, Jaipur, and Hyderabad. The event was aimed at inviting brands to be a part of the growing BONI circle, helping them solve various market challenges.

While there are several reasons behind the success of D2C brands, Atul Mehta, COO, Shiprocket highlighted a few, as part of his keynote address.

Let's take a look at some of the highlights.

Understanding the problem statement

The growth of D2C brands has been unprecedented over the years, but the momentum can only be sustained if a brand has a deep understanding of the customer problem they are aiming to solve.

"With a rise in internet penetration and exposure to social media brands, our aspirations as consumers have also evolved. What's important to understand is while there will be several hiccups as part of the journey, staying true to the consumer problem you are solving is critical," added Atul.

Leveraging the ecosystem

Unlike earlier, the ecosystem today is strong and serves as a catalyst in the growth of D2C brands. Referring to the ecosystem of today as a "tailwind", Atul emphasised on the need to be demanding, because only when a brand exercises constraint on themselves, invention on basic processes can become a reality.

"It is important to leverage the ecosystem and push the partners you are working with. If we talk about the ecosystem today, there are channels like Shopify and Shiprocket, who also believe that they have a huge responsibility to enable brands and help them scale," he explained.

Delivering a high-quality customer experience

There exist several D2C brands today that either offer their products through their own websites, marketplaces, or both. Over the years, insights have highlighted how consumer experience has become top-notch outside marketplaces. There's still a piece of this puzzle that needs to be addressed, believes Atul.

"The experience after 'adding to cart' has also become critical, over the last few years. If you have reached, say 3-4k orders per month, it is essential to start investing on your post-checkout experience, and how you can improve it further," he added.

The last word

Before ending the keynote, Atul parted with an important tip. "Even though marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart have for long been demonised, newer or smaller brands which are still finding their product-market fit must leverage marketplaces. They are great for initial scale-up, with minimal investment," he concluded.