Changing tides: Rise of D2C and why manufacturers must now think of consumer’s first

When it comes to creating processes that efficiently make quality products, manufacturing has a huge amount of expertise. Just look at the developments in AI-powered robotics for automated manufacturing. But until recently, the sector hasn’t needed to think so much about the customer experience. The product has been the king.

Now that’s changing.

The rise of the direct to consumer (D2C) model signals a change “from product and process centric business” to “a digital, customer-centric business,” says Christopher Davey, Principal Solution Consultant at Zendesk. Meanwhile, both B2B clients and consumers increasingly expect more from the customer journey–as highlighted in Zendesk’s Customer Experience (CX) Trends Report 2023.

The rise of the direct to consumer (D2C) model signals a change “from product and process centric business” to “a digital, customer-centric business”.

Christopher Davey, Principal Solution Consultant at Zendesk

We, as consumers, often interact with manufacturers directly, even when we buy a product at a supermarket. Some manufacturers encourage this, and set up processes to make that experience positive, some try to deflect those interactions.

However, when these manufacturers make the shift to sell directly, that customer experience is going to become an even bigger factor in determining the channel’s success. We know that customers don’t go back if they have had a bad experience. 60 per cent of consumers have purchased something from one brand over another based on the service they expect to receive according to Zendesk’s CX report.

So, we hope that manufacturers are cognizant of this, and truly understand the importance of the customer journey.

Davey points out how it’s crucial that manufacturers think about supporting the whole customer journey from researching a product right through to buying it and servicing it. We are seeing more often that the customer services teams are not just dealing with complaints, but seeing the opportunity to add value.

“Having agent support, self-service portals, and communities pages… and the ability to raise sales and support queries pre, during, and post-sale… this is critical to supporting that customer journey.”

The good news is, manufacturers who have invested in customer experience tools are already reaping the benefits. Some 74 per cent of manufacturing leaders report a positive ROI on their CX over the last year, while 77 per cent plan to increase CX budgets next year–according to Zendesk’s CX report.

Legacy technologies and processes remain a challenge for the sector, creating silos that make it difficult to share knowledge. Only 17 per cent of manufacturing respondents said their organisation was excellent at sharing customer data across the organisation, according to our report.

The good news is, manufacturers who have invested in customer experience tools are already reaping the benefits.

It can seem like a big task to make this change, without knowing what the potential impact will be. But we are seeing it work across all kinds of products; with high value products like iphones— buy your airpods directly and you can get personalisation, or we are also seeing the rise of the subscription model. Dollar Shave Club, for example, has been an early adopter of the D2C model. They eliminated the middleman, i.e., wholesalers and distributors, to sell to the customers directly, through subscriptions. DSC was one of the first proponents of the D2C revolution. Today, many of the leading CPG companies are taking this route.

In the race for winning new business and gaining loyal customers, manufacturers must put customer experience front and centre–or risk losing out to competitors who already are.