Direct-to-consumer is a business model in which a company sells its products directly to end customers, bypassing third-party retailers, wholesalers and other intermediaries. It is a modern variant of the business-to-consumer model, most often executed through a company's own e-commerce channels. The approach became especially popular during the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s, when it primarily referred to online retailers selling directly to consumers over the internet. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Core MechanismA manufacturer or brand sells directly to end consumers through its own channels, typically online, eliminating the margins and loss of control that come from routing sales through wholesalers or third-party retailers. 1 Origin YearDirect-to-consumer e-commerce became prominent during the late-1990s dot-com boom; direct selling itself is far older (mail-order catalogs, door-to-door sales) but this year marks the model's modern, internet-native form. FAQs
What does direct-to-consumer bypass?
Third-party retailers, wholesalers and other intermediaries, selling straight to the end customer.
Direct-to-consumer is a business model in which a company sells its products directly to end customers, bypassing third-party retailers, wholesalers and other intermediaries, most often through the company's own e-commerce channels.
Connections
Associated With
Disintermediation, a producer selling straight to buyers instead of through wholesalers or retailers, is the underlying mechanism the direct-to-consumer business model relies on.
Michael Dell built Dells growth on selling computers built to order directly to buyers, bypassing retail resellers.
Source Wikipedia, Michael Dell
Open Questions
Source Wikipedia, Direct-to-Consumer
Sources
1. Wikipedia, Direct-to-Consumer
WikipediaLead section
The DTC is a business model of selling products directly to customers and thereby bypassing any third-party retailers, wholesalers, or intermediaries.
Lead section
Direct-to-consumer (DTC or D2C) is a modern variation of the business-to-consumer (B2C) business model.
Examples section
Examples of DTC brands currently in business include: Allbirds, Away, Dollar Shave Club, Everlane, Glossier, and Warby Parker.
View the Source Wikipedia, Michael Dell
Open Questions (1 open question)
Does direct-to-consumer have a defensible single origin year, or only a long practice history with a distinct modern resurgence?
Wikipedia's article states the model originated before modern transportation and electricity, when geography forced local consumption, and separately that it became immensely popular during the late-1990s dot-com bubble as a labeled online-retail strategy. These are two different eras for two different senses of the term, and no single year can honestly represent the model's origin.
What would resolve this A source naming a specific first documented instance of direct-to-consumer selling as a deliberate strategy, or one confirming that the modern labeled sense of the term begins specifically with the 1990s wave this research found, with named firms and a year.
Wikipedia, Direct-to-Consumer
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