As COVID-19 continues to spread like a wildfire in the US, with over 5 million positive cases, the country’s economy remains in survival mode. The challenge to recover from the recession is huge for almost all businesses. However, as the country tried to walk it over in the past few months, a lot of things have changed. The US retail industry is worst hit by the pandemic, brick-and-mortar retailers initially agonized to surpass the challenges and keep up with the fast-changing market trends, but surprisingly realized massive opportunities from the ashes to remain competitive and rise despite the impact of COVID-19.
When social distancing was implemented as a pandemic-prevention measure, Americans stayed confined in their homes, and many business establishments were closed down. Subsequently, mom-and-pop retail stores started losing revenues. Expectedly, a rise in online shopping for essentials and a growing demand for home-delivery services was observed. With this, retailers were pushed to come out of the shell and try to innovate their process to sustain their business, as they realized that e-commerce is the most dependable lifesaver to hold on to and that omnichannel is the future of the retail industry.
Retailers are shifting gears
There’s a growing shift towards direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales by retail businesses, consumer goods companies, fashion brands, and even farmers across the country. In the D2C model, retailers or manufacturers sell directly to consumers without spending hundreds of dollars on third-party sellers, wholesalers, or retail outlets for distribution. This is done by setting up an online store or a social media page where consumers can see the products and conveniently place their orders. The product is then delivered to the consumers through an in-house transport facility or third-party transporters.
D2C marketing on the rise
The pandemic has given a big push to retailers and consumer goods enterprises to sell directly to consumers. In fact, eMarketer reported that web traffic to D2C sites has doubled in the last two years causing a sudden boom in the market. D2C sales are expected to account for $17.75 billion of total US e-commerce sales in 2020, up 24.3% from the previous year.
Even big brands like Levi’s, Nike, Adidas, Walmart, Publix, and other household brands are banking on D2C strategy to fulfill the demands of millions of Americans during the pandemic. One of the biggest advantages of going direct to consumers via e-commerce is that it allows brands to build a direct relationship with their target market, prosper it with effective communication, and quick customer service and resolution. D2C retail marketing helps manufacturers and retail brands to cut back expenses on secondary distribution to wholesalers and retail stores by doing their marketing directly to the consumers.
Challenges in a D2C marketing model
As convenient as it may seem, D2C selling is not a piece of cake for retail brands. Big players in the online retail arena like Amazon, who have been in the industry for decades now, and who already have a huge customer base, are like the Goliath of the thriving retailers. The challenges of competing with the big brands in terms of promoting online presence effectively to a larger audience and establishing a reliable transport process to ensure effective last-mile deliveries are some key factors to consider by manufacturers and retailers as they emerge to the D2C selling strategy.
Direct Response Advertising in D2C marketing strategy
It is established that D2C selling is on the rise in the US retail market or probably the next big thing indeed, to help improve the thriving American economy. However, in order to make it a huge success, brands need to implement this business model strategically. Effective use of online selling to reach target consumers, efficient logistics to ensure fast and on-time deliveries, and technology such as fleet management, order-tracking, and live status updates, are important in delivering excellent customer experience.
How consumers can notice your brand
If you are a business owner, manufacturer, or a retailer who wants to fortify your emergence in the D2C selling, we at Airtime Media can help you! In this global crisis, consumers remain quarantined and are surfing the internet, watching television, and listening to the radio for life-saving information. They are NOT going out and relying solely on their phones to CALL and SHOP. Now is a great time to extend your brand to your customers.
Airtime Media helps businesses to achieve aggressive growth goals by providing guaranteed calls and leads generated from our Direct Response National Advertising via TV, Radio, and the Internet. We can give value to your marketing dollars by determining a price per phone call that will fit your budget and we can set it up ALL at a FIXED RATE! We develop marketing content and do free production. With our massive connection and 40 years of experience in the industry, we launch your commercial and do it across Radio, TV, and online. Next is – you get ready for a guaranteed supply of phone calls directly from your customers!
To learn more about how to effectively use Airtime Media’s direct response national advertising as your primary step in the D2C selling, give us a call at 888-373-8463 or leave us your details and we shall get back to you with more information on how to generate you 1,000 to 10,000 calls a week from your target consumers.
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