Direct to Customer (DTC) is one of the most powerful tactics in a brand’s selling toolkit. By sharing a brand’s story, developing its personality and creating experiences, a well-executed e-commerce site can create loyalists. DTC is unique in its ability to deliver sales, drive intelligence and manage a brand’s message in ways more successful than than a brick and mortar — with a potentially larger audience and a route to market that’s exponentially faster and cheaper.
To the buyer, shopping online should be no less of an experience than traditional methods. Building a virtual version of the retail experience gives retailers a unique ability to engage buyers with easy-to-shop navigation, suggestive upselling, fast answers and entertainment. Selling touchpoints can be educational opportunities, moving a customer from a one-time buyer into a brand loyalist.
Our team designs and builds the infrastructure that enables your DTC e-commerce solution. We create best-in-class user experiences that enable, not distract from, your customer’s purchasing. We’ll even maintain, update, and populate your site’s content, and user experiences.
We’ll connect your brand where your customers live, work and play! We connect the stories and products on your site to the retailers, distributors and digital marketing channels used by your audience to remove the barriers to purchase.
We are content creators and storytellers who leverage marketing strategy, product photography, demonstration and sampling videos, all designed to make your products stand out above the competition and create brand loyalty. We use the most sophisticated digital media and retargeting tools to attract and promote ongoing interest in your brand!
What our customers say about the work we deliver speaks volumes over-and-above pretty pictures on a page.
Our unique approach and end-to-end capabilities ensure consistent thought and strategy. By connecting your operations, sales, and marketing objectives we are uniquely positioned to carrying them through to every stage of the customer journey.
The past 18-24 mos. have exponentially accelerated the consumer shift to eCommerce, driven by the culturally redefining pandemic. In the first 8 weeks of the US lockdown, “U.S. e-Commerce penetration grew more than the previous 10 years!” *
This shift in consumer behavior and the responses of brands to fill the move their sales online has amplified the need for excellence in this channel for both brands and retailers.
Even before the pandemic, DTC sales growth was expected to continue to accelerate through the first half of this decade.
Source: Rakuten Advertising 2020 study
We have entered a new era of digital commerce. Product presence on the web alone is not enough. Complete control of your messaging, your content and your digital commerce platform is the cost of entry. The real power of a DTC digital ecosystem is in its ability to amplify your marketing intelligence of your consumer while also selling at every point of engagement.
The benefits to Direct-To-Customer can be multi-faceted. Beyond connecting a brand to its target customers, a strong online retail presence also creates:
Insights & Innovation Engine
Platform to Control User Experience
Omnichannel Marketing & Sales Engine
Sales Driver
#1: Clearly define your direct-to-consumer strategy
Important considerations are providing clear value to the customer and doing so without introducing friction to the customer journey
#2: Differentiate to avoid direct competition
Deliver both by differentiating your DTC offering from what retail partners offer in their brick-and-mortar stores. Creatively bundle, brand, or package your DTC offering so as not to compete directly with retail partners.
#3: Increase partner sales using data
The customer data you’ll collect going DTC can be used to help channel partners improve their overall businesses.
#4: Partner on fulfillment
Partnering with retailers to fulfill orders is a win-win scenario. Similarly, consider offering a “pick up in store” option as part of your DTC online strategy.
Marlin Network Commerce offers the only end-to-end, single-source solution custom tailored to meet the customer need. No other provider can offer this level of turnkey integration, accountability, support, or spectrum of services
Speed:
Your e-commerce site can be up and generating revenue in a matter of weeks! The move to D2C is no longer a years-long process. Our team’s expertise and experience ensure we are efficient, smart, and planning for the future.
Getting Started
We host a discovery session to determine the right Shopify platform (Shopify, Advanced, Plus), store name, understand your sales channels and products, fulfillment and return details
Agile development process
We quickly set up an e-commerce prototype. Following your brand standards, we set up the site, create a domain name and URLs, load in existing product content, define product variants, import from product database, product tracking notifications, etc.
Connecting Commerce
We set up payment gateways, customer support (email, phone, live chat), wholesale (discount codes, password protected) create your blog posts (if desired), setup email, analytics and optimize for conversion.
Developing your marketing plan.
We’ll help you build your marketing strategy, prepare the tools and launch your campaign that amplifies and drives consumer traffic to your D2C solution. We’ll set up, monitor, and optimize your search, media and social spends, paid media support, and more!
Our team of creatives and developers are adept at using and developing in any e-commerce platform. While we are solution agnostic, we do recommend Shopify as our chosen solution. As a Shopify Partners, we build the best-in-class e-commerce solution you want instead of force-fitting into a template.
Launching your online business through Shopify allows us to:
Beyond our development services, Marlin Network Commerce is uniquely positioned with proven end-to-end solutions for:
Our inclusion within the Advantage Solutions network enables us to offer the best-in-class providers in an end-to-end single source solution with fully integrated data management across all touchpoints and service divisions. Each service is custom tailored to meet our customer’s needs. No other provider can offer this turnkey level of integration, accountability, support, or service solutions. That’s the power of 1.
Complete all the form fields. We’re excited to get started.
312-633-2040 ext. 223
Director of Client Services
The foodservice world is a natural fit for Sherry, an award-winning product development and B2B marketing expert who has spent her 20+ year career immersed in communications. In her work on both the manufacturer and agency sides of the business, she has led innovative advertising campaigns, sales training, promotions and strategic partnerships. Currently, in her role as Director of Business Development & Strategic Partnerships at CSSI, Sherry’s insights drive holistic B2B and B2C recommendations that help our clients thrive in a competitive industry.
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