How SaaS e-commerce platforms are helping traditional D2C brands to beat the pandemic woes

The e-commerce industry has already been experiencing exceptional growth over the past few years. The outbreak of the pandemic accelerated the process even more. How? Well, the deadly virus forced people to stay indoors. Consequently, people started adopting different buying patterns such as ordering everything online. This particular shift in consumer behavior led the brands to embrace the D2C (direct-to-consumer) route. This type of business model enables the brands to directly sell their products to their customers. The businesses earn better profit margins as they remove the dependency on third-party channels and upsell their products via their own medium, be it their e-commerce websites, social media platforms, or retail stores.

Earlier, when the pace of internet penetration was slow, imagining a D2C strategy playing out successfully, especially for large-scale businesses, was practically impossible. However, it acquired steam when the dot com bubble (internet) picked up speed. In recent years, especially when the global health crisis took the world by storm, it led to a new wave of optimism for the brands taking on the D2C route. It is simply because technological advancements have been gaining momentum. The D2C business model created a win-win situation for both the sellers as well as buyers during the pandemic. Let us discover how:

Omnichannel e-commerce

As the consumers have been embracing the digital medium, many brands, even after adopting the D2C model, miss on acquiring new customers. The reason? Clearly because the products that the end-users are interested in purchasing are not available on the specific sales channels, be it offline, online, mobile web and apps, or social commerce. However, by integrating with the SaaS-based platforms, businesses can easily sell on diverse sales channels. The omnichannel infrastructure recognizes the customer touch points. It provides them with the flexibility of completing the purchase on any channel, allows fast and convenient shopping on any device, as well as offers a personalized buying journey for an unforgettable experience.

Mobile commerce solution

It would be appropriate to say that e-commerce is more of m-commerce today. With internet penetration, the mobile phone revolution is taking the market by storm. Hence, it is the right time for D2C brands to leverage m-commerce for their business. With mobile-ready SaaS e-commerce platforms, enterprise brands do not need to get their mobile site and apps developed separately. These well-rounded SaaS platforms are equipped with native mobile app builders. This enables D2C brands to adopt m-commerce easily and quickly for better customer engagement and higher conversions. M-commerce solutions let the brands give an app-like experience to the end-users through progressive web application (PWA) sites that work seamlessly on all devices. PWA sites do not require approval from Google Play or the Apple store, unlike apps.

MACH infrastructure

Enterprise brands need innovative tech-based initiatives that can help in building tailor-made solutions for their business. They also need an e-commerce software solution that has the capacity to be effortlessly integrated with other software like CRM, ERP, accounting, et al, that can assist with handling end-to-end business processes. This is exactly where MACH (Micro services; API-first, Cloud-native; and Headless) infrastructure comes into the picture. It quickly adapts to the changing times by building agile and innovative business solutions. The D2C brands can leverage MACH architecture for e-commerce to create disruptive solutions like custom multi-vendor marketplaces, a network of multiple storefronts, or any other out-of-the-box solution. The businesses can scale to new markets, sellers, product lines, and customer groups with ease and create personalized buyer journeys for better conversions.

Integrated payment gateways

The digital presence assuredly builds the foundation for online business, but that’s not all. The brands require the support of several third-party functionalities, including payment gateways to efficiently and effectively manage the business. This is where “integrations” help. The SaaS-based e-commerce platforms turn out to be useful with seamless integrations. The SaaS-based e-commerce platforms offer integrations with globally recognized payment gateways for making every possible sales opportunity profitable. Brands can easily offer a host of payment options to their customers to ensure quick and frictionless checkouts

THE BOTTOM LINE

Creating a name and position in the digital space as well as in the market is the dire need of every other business. Hence, the D2C model, certainly, is a viable solution for brands as it offers them an upper hand by accelerating their e-commerce business. Embracing a ‘direct-to-consumer’ strategy doesn’t seem to ever let them down, especially now that opportunities with this business model are boundless. The brands just need to thoughtfully select technology while adopting the D2C route. Doing so will continue to boost the growth of the e-commerce sector in the forthcoming years.

BY: Mr. Rajiv Kumar, Founder & CEO, StoreHippo