With many retailers having concerns about selling on marketplaces – ranging from having to share a cut of revenues to potential customer relationship issues – some are choosing to cut out the middle-man and sell to customers directly.
Clearly, this makes customer acquisition a critical area for D2C brands, and more than half (54%) of those surveyed for a report by Yotpo identify new customers as one of their top marketing KPIs.
Perhaps in an effort to stave off competition from D2C disruptors – or as a relatively seamless way to make entry into the D2C market – some large CPG companies that represent some of the top e-commerce CPG categories have recently made highly-publicized and high-dollar acquisitions, such as Unilever’s acquisition of Dollar Shave Club for $1 billion and Edgewell Personal Care Company purchase of Harry’s for $1.4 billion.
So how are brands going direct? First and foremost by using social media, according to the survey results.
Three in 5 survey respondents (61%) consider social media to be one of their top 3 acquisition channels (from a list of 11).
Social media as a customer acquisition channel makes sense for brands that may not have the same exposure as other B2C brands selling on marketplaces like Amazon.
Findings from a report by Criteo show that Facebook beats out websites and email among channels where customers discover new brands. Read the rest at Marketing Charts.
The e-Strategy Academy covers all aspects of digital marketing including search optimization & marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, video marketing, mobile marketing & public relations.