Is Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) right for your B2B company?

Fear galvanizes change, and there’s nothing scarier than suddenly losing access to your customers. That’s why many B2B businesses are now adding D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) to their marketing strategy, serving customers directly online.
With a D2C business model, manufacturers get an opportunity to introduce omnichannel selling channels, enhance the buyer’s digital user experience, offer tailor-made products to the end customers, track online consumer behavior, and collect direct feedback.
The lines between B2B and B2C are blurring more and more by the day. The buyer expectations have been heavily influenced by B2C experiences, raising the bar for B2B companies. According to a McKinsey study in 2021, 90% of B2B buyers would turn to a competitor if a supplier’s digital channel couldn’t keep up with their needs. B2B customers now expect to be able to go online to find your complete range of products and the most detailed, valid information. The same study found that 81% of consumers expect more self-service options, while 40% of businesses think they have enough. Companies that focus on improving self-service by adding interactive experiences like visual product configuration will capture more leads and more market share.

As you evaluate your company’s approach to incorporating a D2C strategy into your overall marketing, realize that according to McKinsey, 80 percent of B2B companies are investing in their online channels to be as good or better than their offline ones. Our Smithy platform was developed to improve and streamline digital channels by bringing manufacturers catalogs to life with immersive visual product configuration. These self-service experiences create virtual brand experiences, drive more lead generation and grow revenues. Smithy also improves existing sales channels by enhancing face to face selling opportunities for reps, dealers, and distributors.

^{Photo by Yan Krukov}