From "platform transformation" to "DTC brand going to sea", what is the trend of 2021?

Independent station has been popular in recent years , The realization of private domain traffic has been verified , Therefore, it attracts a lot of investment and overweight . In the past 2020 year , The whole field of independent stations ,COD and Dropshipping The proportion of , Especially in Facebook For flow and account opening control , as well as Google Advertising on the site under strict audit conditions ,COD The mode cannot solve the problems of account opening and receipt rate , Reduce the cardinality of this mode . and Dropshipping This one click business model , Finally, because of the product quality , after-sales , Supply chain and data security , Showing a shrinking trend . let me put it another way , Some inferior models are slowly being eliminated ！

In this context ,2021 What kind of model will become a new trend in ？ today , Let's focus on DTC Brand model .

What is? DTC？ Is to directly face the consumer brand , To put it simply, it is to do the product end through a company , For example, design 、 production 、 Supply chain , Or marketing 、 Operation end , Or direct sales and after-sales links , A company directly covers all these links , Direct service , So brands and consumers can have direct contact 、 Go directly to the service , There is no need to do the intermediate retail link or intermediary link . In this way, the intermediate link is omitted, and DTC The brand is more friendly to consumers at a lower price 、 Higher quality products , At the same time, the distance between consumers and brands will also be much closer .

DTC Characteristics ：DTC Brands can be sold through independent sales channels （ Independent station ） Reach consumers directly , And it is easier to create beautiful pictures and vivid product stories when operating , Consumers can be impressed by content . meanwhile DTC Brands pay more attention to product quality 、 Personalized shopping and other consumer experiences , It is different from the traditional operation mode .

From the big economy 、 From the perspective of market environment , In the past two years DTC There are many opportunities in the field ：

（1） Market aspect ： As the market matures , Many sellers are slowly realizing the importance of building brands , This year, DTC Haihai brand is also recognized by the market and investment circle again , More and more capital is invested to introduce this field and accelerate development , And overseas DTC There is a certain basic acceptance in the market and consumer cognition , So the demand is increasing .

（2） The general background of the epidemic and the turbulence in foreign markets ： More and more high-quality DTC Sea going enterprises polish their abilities in all aspects more carefully to resist risks , There are also more and more new enterprises trying to DTC Pattern .

（3） Enterprise development level ： Under the premise of saturation and competition in the domestic market , Many brand owners expand their access to overseas markets , While driving the development of enterprises , It also has a positive linkage effect on the sustainable and healthy development of domestic brands .

So you know , A product without a brand , It can be easily copied or even surpassed . No seller wants their products to fall into homogeneous competition , Even in vicious competition . Meager profit but high turnover 、 The crazy distribution mode can only make the seller big but not strong at most , Can't make a good profit .

And with the upgrading of consumption , More and more consumers will pay more attention to the quality of products, shopping experience and services . After establishing the brand , Sellers can convey the quality and service of the brand to consumers from the brand level . And through the operation of the brand , Sellers can enhance customers' loyalty and lifelong value to the brand , It can also increase the added value brought by the brand , So as to improve our profit margin .

Believe in the future 3-5 In a matter of years , Well known Chinese brands will appear in many consumer categories in overseas markets . Although today “ Goods go to sea ” That's the status quo ,“ Brand goes to sea ” It hasn't happened widely yet , However, large-scale commodity exports relying on the advantages of a strong supply chain , And the maturity of cross-border e-commerce basic services , Are the important foundation for Chinese brands to go to sea .

Globalization opportunities of independent station e-commerce ：

2020 The year of may be said to be the outbreak year of going to sea , From Google's official insight , It's not just the brand going to sea ,2020 So was the year B2B The outbreak year of factory transformation , Reaching consumers through online channels has become one of the main sources of customers .

Go back to the independent station , Including the corresponding opportunities brought by the globalization challenges mentioned above . future ,DTC From B2C Gradually refine out , Focus more on the product line , pay attention to SKU Less and better , Producers face consumers directly , The price is more advantageous , At the same time, pay more attention to social media marketing and consumer experience , And then public praise and brand symbiosis .

According to some successful DTC brand , I found some common features in the data ：

（1） Brand concept ： These traffic increases rapidly DTC Most brands involve environmental protection 、 Health, etc , It is a topic of common concern to European and American users , Advocate resource conservation 、 Protect the ecology , A healthy life , Emphasize the natural and pollution-free products .

（2） Product line settings ： these DTC Brands start from the needs of core users , Further explore the products they need . Such as Liquid IV The first popular product function is to replenish water , Later, it developed the supplementary energy 、 Functional drinks such as sleep aids .

（3） Marketing activities ： Most of the DTC The brand will set a threshold for mailing , This amount is basically the price of the best-selling products 1.5-2 times . about DTC For brand merchants , The setting of mailing threshold can cooperate with the related sales in the store , Promote the sale of goods . And it will also give customers some psychological comfort , Because not including postage is bound to increase your own expenses , It will not affect the quality of the goods , If the parcel post is included, the express fee needs to be borne by the seller , Relatively speaking, it improves the cost performance of the product .

（4） Website traffic acquisition ： Focus on direct traffic and search traffic , Paid search keywords are 2 A direction ： First, the brand name is related , To set keywords that may be mistakenly written for multiple brand names , Ensure that the user can search for the brand in case of wrong input ; Second, brand concept 、 Type related , The concept of the brand can be set as a keyword , You can also set hot topics related to the product / problem .

（5） Social channels ：Facebook、YouTube It is still the main way to obtain traffic ,Pinterest And other emerging social media DTC The traffic channel that can not be ignored by the brand .

（6）Pinterest： The feature is to show the picture content in the form of waterfall flow , No user flipping , New pictures are automatically loaded at the bottom of the page , Let users constantly find new pictures . Sony and other companies are also Pinterest Set up a home page , Use pictures to market its products and services .DTC Brands can be found in Pinterest Display a display map with a sense of design and brand characteristics , Plus a brief introduction , Attract users .

Apart from the above , The transformation of traditional foreign trade enterprises DTC, To abandon the inherent thinking 、 Fixed mode ： For example, I used to do OEM/ODM It's a big deal , The minimum order quantity may be 10 Ten thousand or more . While doing online , The whole production line 、 Part of the supply chain needs to adapt to the small batch of cross-border e-commerce 、 Multi frequency order production mode , The iteration and upgrading of products should also be fast .
At the same time, we also need to think about these problems ： Which country should I face ？ Who are my consumers ？ What is the consumption habit ？ Which groups have the highest conversion rate ？ What is the most popular product in the market ？ What are the product trends in the future ？ How to interact effectively with consumers ？ Etc., etc. .
In the past, Chinese enterprises opened up overseas markets , More is hard money , Lack of added value brought by the brand . But the future , Cross border trade will enter the era of intensive cultivation , For traditional foreign trade enterprises , You need a real hug when you go to sea “ E-commerce ” and “ The brand ”.

official account ： Cross-border Savior