Consumer products firms selling direct-to-consumers used to be an innovation worth noting. But now it is quickly becoming table stakes as social media becomes a dominant sales vehicle and consumer spending spreads across a wider range of channels.
Making the leap and selling direct-to-consumers (DTC) requires the right infrastructure in place. The good news is that there is turnkey direct-to-consumer software that can simplify the rollout of a DTC sales channel, and the pricing for these solutions is something that even a startup or smaller business can afford without cutting corners.
Even more importantly, consumer products businesses looking to roll out direct-to-consumer software can have their DTC operations fully integrated with their other sales channels and connected deeply with their overall backend system.
That’s because businesses can use their end-to-end enterprise resource planning solution (ERP) for DTC when they use a cloud-based ERP solution such as SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition or SAP Business ByDesign.
Using ERP as Your Direct-to-Consumer Software
A cloud-based ERP platform serves as the foundation for streamlined, centralized, and automated back-end business processes. It easily can be expanded to integrate and automate a new DTC business channel that includes website sales, online marketplace integrations, and social selling.
Cloud ERP offers a host of benefits as direct-to-consumer software for building an automated, consumer-facing business channel. It helps improve customer engagement and facilitates more positive interactions since all data on customer purchases, behavior, and preferences is aggregated and easy to analyze and combine with other sales channels.
Because it is an ERP, it also streamlines the entire supply chain, connecting consumer product makers seamlessly with suppliers, partners, customers, and online marketplaces. It is also easy to integrate with electronic data interchange (EDI), the digital standard for information exchange throughout the supply chain. This improves efficiency, increases productivity, and helps reduce costs and waste. It lays the foundation for modern, optimized back-end systems and processes, a critical building block for modern businesses.
What Brands Should Look for in Direct-to-Consumer Software
DTC is different than many other sales channels, which is why brands that are adopting the channel for the first time should specifically look at a few key areas when selecting the right direct-to-consumer software.
1. Ready for High Transaction Volumes
The transaction volume from distributing directly to consumers is much greater than bulk orders, often by several magnitudes. The right direct-to-consumer software solution must be robust enough to handle large transaction volumes.
ERP is built for large transaction volumes and the largest consumer products businesses, enabling companies to start small with DTC sales volumes but confidently expand as demand increases.
2. A Single Solution for All Online Marketplaces
Each online marketplace has its own terms and web service protocols. Selling to consumers through multiple marketplaces requires a flexible digital core that can integrate with all the major marketplaces and negotiate their differences.
Whether distributing through Amazon, eBay, Walmart.com, or all the major online marketplaces, a cloud ERP can help consumer products firms centrally manage consumer sales not just through a company website but also through every major online marketplace.
3. CRM and Customer Support Integration
With a DTC channel, product support and managing customer data gets larger and more complex. Direct-to-consumer software needs robust customer relationship management (CRM) tied in with sales data. Customer support activity also must be tied with the CRM and order history, as well as with marketing activity so support has a full picture of customer interaction history.
ERP comes with CRM built in as a core feature, and it both integrates and can share data with customer service software and cloud-based solutions for a single source of truth that can be used for managing customer sales and support issues.
4. Fully integrated Operations in a Single System
Automation, visibility, and efficiency are the foundation of a modern consumer products business selling direct-to-consumers. Coordinating inventory, warehousing, supply chain logistics, fulfillment, and invoicing as part of a DTC channel requires an intelligent digital core.
As an end-to-end backend solution that unifies all parts of a business and serves as the central nerve center for a company, ERP can connect a DTC channel directly with the other parts of the business for automatically coordinating manufacturing, logistics, and supply chain needs through deep automation.
DTC Starts with ERP
Selling direct-to-consumer is an important sales channel, but it also brings new challenges. For businesses that are just starting with DTC, having the right direct-to-consumer software in place can make a big difference.
If your brand does not already sell direct-to-consumer, learn more about what is needed for DTC and how ERP can help. You also can contact one of our experienced ERP consultants at (801) 642-0123 or by writing us at info@nbs-us.com
