16 Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Trends to Watch for in 2023

DTC（直接面向消费者）retail is no longer limited to digitally native brands. Traditional retailers are also adopting the same strategies, especially as they strive to compete in a post-pandemic world.

Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) sales are projected to keep growing as more brands move to the eCommerce space and established DTC players continue to expand their existing market. It’s projected that in the US alone, digitally native brands will reach$44 billion in sales到2023年，建立的DTC品牌将达到1380亿美元的销售。

While most of theDTC trends in 20222023年将继续有新的新兴trends that brands should watch out for. Understanding these trends will guide your business as you launch and sustain your DTC strategy in 2023 and beyond.

在本文中，您将了解有关直接面向消费者零售以及DTC趋势的更多信息。

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16 Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) Trends in 2023:

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什么是直接消费者模型？

DTC甚至在大流行之前就存在，但是当大流行导致消费者购买行为发生重大转变时，它经​​历了重大繁荣。

Direct-to-consumer simply refers to the retail strategy where brand manufacturers sell their goods straight to customers instead of going through middlemen like department store chains or online retailers.

It sounds simple, but it compels brands to understand their customers on a deeper level. It involves navigating the waters of order fulfillment, last-mile deliveries, product returns, and customer service. For big and established brands, it entailed added resources and more work versus simply managing retail partners.

And yet despite the challenges, more and more brands are going the DTC route and many are succeeding.

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2023年的前16个直接面向消费者趋势

DTC专家预测，这些趋势将指导品牌在2023年开展业务时。阅读并应用您的品牌实用性。

1。Inflation causes customers to tighten their belts

The first trend is something not every brand wants to hear. Inflation is a global reality that’s forcing consumers to cut back on spending and become more mindful of where to place their hard-earned money.CNBC报道说，在美国，即使是高收入消费者也正在减少他们的购买，以进一步扩大美元。

DTC brands can work this reality to their favor by doing these tips:

• Continue building your brand. Let your customers know what makes you unique and why they should choose you over the competition.
• 投资于收益最高的营销活动。利用您的现有数据来确定产生最大结果的最有效平台。188滚球地址
• 优化客户旅程，并专注于为客户提供无缝的体验，从而使他们从休闲买家转变为品牌拥护者。

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2. More traditional retailers will adapt DTC models

Despite customers starting to flock to physical stores, the convenience of online shopping will remain imprinted in the minds of many. With more customers becoming digitally savvy, expect that e-commerce will continue to rise.

Traditional retailers will want a piece of the action and will continue to adopt the same methods and strategies that helped digitally native brands thrive.

DTC允许品牌控制其消息传递以及如何向消费者提供产品。欧莱雅has leveraged DTC to launch their Technology Incubator, which allows consumers to personalize products and the brand to be perceived as innovative.

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3.个性化的故事是脱颖而出的关键

随着更多品牌进入DTC空间，获得新的Custo变得越来越有竞争力MERS并保留现有的。在2022年，66％的DTC公司提到增加客户获取成本是实现其增长目标的主要挑战。

DTC品牌需要调整创造性策略来脱颖而出，而做到这一点的最佳方法之一就是专注于讲述客户可以与之相关的故事。这不仅仅是讲述您的品牌故事 - 这是关于将客户关心的故事与您的品牌相关的故事融合在一起。

eCommerce is notoriously transactional, and brand stories, when done incorrectly, could backfire. Instead of drawing customers in, stories could send customers running. In telling a brand story, make the customers the hero and share how your products can help solve their dilemma.

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4. Subscription pricing will remain popular

One major move to safeguard profitability is to have a solid pricing strategy. The e-commerce space is rife with deals and discounts, and competing in this arena can harm product margins.

在2022年，DTC品牌开始采用订阅定价，即使是实物产品也是如此。这涉及每月的经常性费用，以换取常用商品的补充。它可以与定期更新的产品（例如浴室必需品，食品储藏室供应，甚至宠物食品）合作。

DTC食品品牌，Butcher Box, implements a “monthly box” subscription service. Customers can choose from pre-selected boxes or customize their own box. They further incentivize customers with free products for staying on their subscription.

For 2023, we will see more DTC brands following suit and offering the convenience of subscription pricing to their customers. It also becomes a huge incentive for customer loyalty and retention.

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5.更广泛地采用BNPL和其他灵活的付款方式

Shopping cart abandonmentis one of the main pain points in e-commerce. Withabandonment rates climbing as high as 70%，DTC品牌必须减少此数字以帮助提高盈利能力。

从2022年开始持续到2023年，旨在提高此数字的一种趋势是灵活付款选项的可用性。除了实现Apple Pay和Google Pay的使用外，DTC网站还提供“立即购买，以后付款”（BNPL）计划哪个适合昂贵的产品。

消费者喜欢这种类型的支付方案because they can receive their orders by initially paying a fraction of the cost. In some cases, no upfront fees are collected. Interests are minimal or non-existent, making this type of consumer financing better than using banks and credit cards.

Schemes like these are made possible by fintech startups like Afterpay, Affirm, and Klarna. DTC brands are turning to these financial payment solutions to draw customers to their websites. It helps that these startups also advertise brands that offer the BNPL scheme in their own apps.

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6. Lesser dependence on paid advertising

Launching a DTC brand used to be easy. Simply set up a Shopify site, place your products, run Facebook ads, and work with a fulfillment center. The ability to easily and quickly run ads on Facebook and Instagram was a key to the growth of many DTC brands.

但是，那崩溃了iOS 14 update。Apple用户现在可以控制第三方应用程序（例如Facebook）的方式，访问和跟踪其数据。这使得依靠第三方数据能够准确针对消费者的广告商变得更加困难。品牌也很难评估其广告投资的回报。

Paid advertising is only as effective as having a strong brand to begin with. Brands that have built a strong image through differentiation and storytelling are the ones succeeding in the face of paid ads’ limitations.

Moving forward, DTC brands will have to go back to the basics of building a strong brand foundation that is not reliant on pixel data for customer acquisition.

营销团队被迫探索其他创意营销渠道，例如短信，email, print, and even offline locations to get consumers to shop from their online stores.

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7. Increased importance on Zero-Party or First-party data

With the iOS update, consumers have become more mindful of how much data they share with advertisers.After Apple, Google followed suit and stopped using third-party cookies in Chrome. It’s predicted that by the end of 2023, third-party cookies will be completely phased out.

But customer data is important for brands to provide personalized experiences and recommendations to their customers. In fact,56％的客户expect personalization in their shopping experiences, and if DTC brands can’t rely on third-party data, they must find a way to acquire first-party data.

First-party data (or zero-party) is information customers willingly share with brands and that the latter can use for ad targeting purposes. For some, merely asking for this data is sufficient. But for other brands, putting in a little creativity wouldn’t hurt.

DTC makeup brand,ipsy，有一种创造性的方式，要求客户共享个人数据。使用个性化测验，该品牌可以收集他们用于推荐适当产品的相关客户信息。

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8。DTC Brands offering offline experiences

在网上推出和增长的数字本地品牌现在看到有必要拥有实体。

实物商店是客户测试产品并与品牌互动的场所。即使客户将在线购买，拥有物理商店也可以作为附加的广告和营销渠道。由于专门在线广告变得昂贵，因此拥有现场广告渠道有助于减轻巨大的广告成本并提高盈利能力。

一些DTC品牌喜欢AllBirds和诺克斯opened their own physical outlets. AllBirds has been expanding its store footprint by opening stores in Denver, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, and other areas. Knix is opening stores in areas like California where it has a high concentration of digital customers. Both brands have the same goal of complimenting their digital sales with in-person retail centers.

Other DTC brands are partnering with major retailers like Walmart, Nordstrom, and Target. By introducing their products in these channels, DTC brands expand their retail footprint. Large retailers, on the other hand, can tap younger markets who are fans of these digitally native brands.

E-commerce is becoming highly saturated and more competitive. DTC brands need to rely on other traditional methods, like brick-and-mortar stores, to stand out.

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9. Continued fascination with NFTs make them great for loyalty rewards

NFT将在2023年继续成为愤怒，如果您的目标市场欣赏这项新技术，那么将其奖励它将为客户保留带来奇迹。

DTC nutrition company Athletic Greens has moved to Web3 and announced that loyal customers will be rewarded with NFTs. Other brands have followed suit, such as Under Armour offering a Genesis Curry Flow NFT and Clinique offering a Meta-Optimist NFT.

可以向忠实的客户提供NFT，并用于建立一个社区 - DTC品牌在面临越来越多的广告成本时应该考虑的东西。

If you go this route, consider also using NFT-based communities as venues for beta tests and feedback groups.

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10. Increased use of SMS marketing to reach customers

SMS is a simple but effective way to instantly reach your target audience.SMS marketing尽管更先进的技术扩散，但仍将继续是发送促销活动的可靠方法。

It has a 98% open rate, and 77% of buyers develop a positive perception of a company that uses SMS notifications.

对于DTC品牌，这为客户提供了一个黄金矿山，并让他们知道正在进行的促销和即将发布的产品版本。您已经有客户的电话号码，所以为什么不只是运送更新，为什么不使用它们呢？

Just be mindful of the rules surrounding SMS and never send spam content.

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11.Resurgence of plain-text emails

HTML emails that carry your branding elements look great but have the highest potential to end up in Promotional (or Junk) folders. And with customers receiving dozens of promotional emails per day, your messages could end up unopened for good.

DTC品牌现在正在将普通文本电子邮件与精美设计的新闻通讯混合在一起。普通文本的电子邮件感觉更为个性化，并且有更大的机会直接降落在用户收件箱中。

但是，并非所有消息都可以使用纯文本有效地传达，因此请仔细选择哪些广告系列是用纯文本完成的，哪些是全彩色完成的。

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12. Balance between wholesale and DTC channels

耐克，阿迪达斯和Under Armour等传统品牌通过DTC模型利用体育运动的增长。Nike将其DTC部门预计到2025年负责其总收入的60％。2010年，DTC销售仅占NIKE总体收入的10％。在过去的几年中，耐克已经过渡到DTC，并关闭了许多批发零售商，例如梅西百货，城市奥运会和扎波斯。

However, business analysts continue to question the profitability of relying on DTC sales over maintaining wholesale retailers. This came after seeing how wholesale sales provided higher margins despite brands getting more sales from DTC. In fact, pure-play e-retailers are两倍报道他们与拥有实体牌的品牌相比，它们是无利可图的。

为了管理不断变化的格局并保持盈利能力，品牌必须探索DTC和批发渠道。曾经是DTC独家品牌like Casper have been increasing their retail footprint by partnering with major retailers like Costco, Target, Sam’s Club, and Nordstrom. The brand now has 25 retail partners across 72 retail stores.

Coresight Researchpredicts that more brands will continue to adopt a hybrid DTC-wholesale model as the need to strike a balance between the two retail strategies becomes more evident.

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13. Customer-Centric Product Returns Policies and Processes

产品收益通常被视为电子商务运营的“无聊但必要”的一部分。However, fear of returns has consistently discouraged customersfrom purchasing online.

The survey showed that 3 out of 5 respondents (from the US, UK, and France) preferred free return shipping with 2 out of 5 preferring refunds via the original payment method.

Product returns policy and processes will be a major game-changer for DTC brands. It will be the main differentiator for customers in deciding which brand to purchase from. Brands need to rethink their returns strategy and consider improving their internal returns processes, refund insurance, and return locations. Furthermore, brands should improve their products and how they present them to avoid returns in the first place.

DTC brands that are customer-focused will strive to understand what their customers want and stand out in a sea of highly competitive offers.

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14.越来越强调建立闭合社区平台188滚球地址

Growing an audience on social media is an essential DTC marketing strategy. A highly engaged audience is a guaranteed way to increase brand sales and build brand loyalty. However, your brand is at the mercy of these rented platforms.

A slight change in policy – or a change in leadership – can totally upheave how you interact with your community. Social media giants are known to consistently introduce algorithm changes, new ad policies, and strict moderation rules that can hamper brand growth.

DTC brands should leverage these rented platforms for what they can offer – a quick way to reach targeted audiences – and then shift that captured audience into a brand-controlled platform. It can be anywhere from your own member-exclusive website or your highly segmented email marketing list.

Controlling customer data will future-proof your business and insure it is against the whims of any rented platform.

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15. DTC品牌将继续使用聊天机器人来改善客户体验

Chatbots在过去的一年中，电子商务网站越来越多地使用，这种趋势将继续下去。用它们精简的品牌customer service证明有多少聊天机器人减少宝贵的定制er service time.AI chatbotshave claimed to reduce as much as 92% of customer service tickets.

As AI technology evolves, and as customers become increasingly comfortable处理聊天机器人, we can expect to see more of these automated tools answering our product questions, dealing with order concerns, handling product returns, and giving out general information.

DTC有机巧克力品牌，Feastables, by YouTube influencer Mr. Beast, relies on its customized on-brand AI chatbot. Dubbed FeastyBot, the chatbot handles everything from helping customers place orders, providing shipping updates, handling payments, expounding product info, and even running sweepstakes contests.

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16.社交媒体购物将继续增长

过去，品牌将鼓励社交媒体关注者从Bio的链接或标题中的链接中购买。近年来，社交媒体网站发展将在线商店直接集成到其平台中的方法。

在社交媒体帖子中，在线购物在Z世代和千禧一代变得越来越流行。与社交购物或social commerce, consumers can now directly purchase items straight from a social media post without going through the whole checkout funnel of the usual e-commerce website.

Instagram has购物帖子Tiktok拥有Tiktok购物。Facebook改进了它的Facebook Shop和made it easy to set up.其他站点也正在开发自己的购物相关功能。

This trend will continue, as social media platforms invest in creative ways to keep consumers on their platforms for longer periods. And since they get a cut of the action, it’s also in their best interest to improve their social commerce tools.

在2023年，它预测，社会贸易将占全球零售电子商务销售的20％的销售额300亿美元。随着Z世代推动Tiktok的受欢迎程度，社会商业的到来并不少见到2026年2.9万亿美元。

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Final Thoughts

直接到消费者（DTC或D2C）将留在这里。即使大流​​行病和消费者再次经常出现实体店，他们在网上购物所经历的便利也仍然存在。

尽管供应链问题，劳动力短缺和广告限制遭受了挫折，但DTC品牌仍在蓬勃发展。随着传统零售和直接面向消费者零售之间的界限，我们可以预期更好的创新和更多以客户为中心的计划，这些计划将把电子商务提升到新的高度。