A D2C e-commerce website is a platform on the internet where the manufacturers sell their products directly to the consumers. A more traditional business goes from manufacturer to the wholesaler, to the distributors, further to the retailers, and then to the consumer. Which is basically a lot more time consuming than the D2C way because in D2C the consumer gets the product directly from the manufacturer himself.
You as a manufacturer just might ask “why should I make a D2C e-commerce website?”, Or “wouldn’t it cost a ton of money to make one?” And you might want to know the various features that you get when you make one. Keep reading to find out.
When one thinks of building something, the first question that pops in the head is “How much will it cost me?” Well, it depends on various situations and demands you have.
Let’s discuss how you can maximize profit by making a D2C e-commerce website. Here are a few examples and statistics that might help you understand the why.
Since one of the key goals of a business is to satisfy consumer demands, here’s a reason to go online with your business. A research suggests that 55% of the consumers love to buy directly from the manufacturers. Also, since D2C websites cut out the middlemen, your profit maximization will be at the peak. What’s more good than excellent gains in income?
Contents
- Key features of a D2C website
- Cost determination of an e-commerce D2C website.
- Breakdown of cost.
- Conclusion
Key features of a D2C website
- Easy navigation and Better Designing
Aesthetics matter! The designing is the essence and representation of the business. To succeed and progress in the cut-throat competition that business is your essence has to be unique, eye candy even. Now-a-days, it is very important to have a high quality website, it has become an asset in today’s digital world. D2C websites offer you to control the way the presentation of your business is. But along with an aesthetically pleasing look, there’s also a need for simple access and usage. It goes without saying that a D2C e-commerce website should have easy navigation. Although it shouldn’t limit the advancement of the features. Searching tools are the key here. Along with easy navigation, the website must be flexible enough to fit in all screens, since about half of the website traffic comes from mobile devices. Scaling is another key. Aside from this, a good eCommerce website should allow the algorithms to work the magic, it helps in engaging the consumer even more. Artificial intelligence as we know is a gift to mankind and can power the recommendations based on user data. Another important aspect of the design is the wishlist/shopping cart, as it allows the user to save for future buying. Additionally, the checkout, payment gateways, returns, etc., should all be hassle-free. Aside from this, the main point of sign-up should be short and secure.
2. Bound with physical retail
When a consumer is shopping online, one thing he or she has in mind is whether he can find the given item physically in the nearest store. A good D2C platform should have a function that enables users to find the nearby retailers who have the thing also tag their geolocation. The brands should be able to bind and mix the online platform along with the physical stores. This will empower the sales association. For example, let’s take OVS, this Italian brand has implemented various tools that help the consumers find clothes of their choice easily in the physical world. They have interactive in-store displays, this really delivers the next level of shopping experience. It also enables online ordering with pink ups from stores at more than 500 locations.
3. Advanced Security Features
When shopping online there’s an inevitable certainty of one encountering a situation where they have to pay using their credit or debit card since most D2C e-commerce websites work on that principle along with one tap payments. Though some may use applications/tools like PayPal. Many D2C websites offer consumers the opportunity to link their store accounts with personal social media accounts. No matter what kind of account is linked, all of it must be secure. This is a “do must” investment while building a website. Modern security along with various certificates, networks are a must have.
Cost determination of an e-commerce D2C website.
Was design the first question that popped in your head when you thought of making your business D2C and online? Or was it how you’ll advertise your website? We’re certainly not. It’s the cost that you tried to calculate. Money is, before all, a priority.
There are various questions that float around when you think of the cost and budgeting the maintenance of a D2C e-commerce website. Then again it depends on various factors so the answer to your various questions is the factors.
To get a specific and proper costing one needs to be precise and break down various parts of the D2C eCommerce website he wants to build. One has to analyse the needs and necessities to come up with an accurate cost.
To reach an accurate, precise and reasonable estimate there are various questions one needs to ask:
● What is the scale of your business?
● What kind of traffic do you have in mind?
● What duration of time are you willing to give in order for it to be prepared?
● Whether you want it to be a personally customized D2C e-commerce website, or are you willing to use the general template?
● How precise and graphic do you want your website to look?
● How many and what kind of additional features do you want for your D2C eCommerce website?
● What’s your strategic approach?
If you answer these and more questions you might just find the accurate price. Further, we are going to discuss elements of a D2C e-commerce website and the impact of them.
Breakdown of cost.
Before you begin the messy calculation you need to first determine where you hold your place in the e-commerce department. Do you have limited capital or are you a well established entity? Financial dependency is the key that determines how closely you can achieve the website of your dreams.
The cost breakdown is heavily influenced by the size of your website. For cutting down the costs in functionality, one can opt for SaaS D2C eCommerce platforms. These platforms save a good amount of time and money. Although they aren’t ideal if you want your business to stand out. You can counter this situation by opting for customisation. The limit is infinite when customisation is in play.
With that sorted, let’s brief you about how different elements of a D2C e-commerce website influence the costing.
1. Aesthetics: Design
The younger generations have the attention span of a bee, thanks to the myriad of options available all the time. In this case, a website needs to match the “vibe”. The D2C eCommerce website should make the people halt and make purchases. Plus, design is capable of making you stand out, which will lead to a boost in sales.
There are free platforms and then there are paid platforms for the designing.
While free platforms like Shopify might offer a good range of themes, it will always be insufficient given the cookie cutter. Paid themes can be highly customisable and hence can be taken to another level giving it a personal touch. The custom development’s cost is based on how you want your UX to engage.
2. The ability to function: Ranging from basic to advanced.
One of the core elements that influence the cost is the functionality of the website. The basic functions that are a must need for a D2C e-commerce website to work include real-time product management, shopping cart, payment modules, etc.
If you go for simple functions then you’ll discover that most of the above mentioned will be already there. But these basic functions might leave gaps behind and disrupt the smooth sailing of your D2C e-commerce website. And who really wants a cookie cutter store, hmm?
Insert add-ons and plug-ins. To improve the functionality of your website you can find both free and paid add-ons. The freebies don’t really sit well. And since paid ones are made by a third party they don’t do good with the website. So what’s the solution then? Customisation! You can hire developers to customize add-ons for your website. The price of the customisation ranges from $6,000 to $20,000 more or less, given the type moderate to advanced.
3. When physical meets digital: Fulfillment.
To run a successful e-commerce website, one needs to make sure they bind both the physical and online end of their D2C website.
For this you will need a Fulfillment software, it could gracefully handle the updates, send out notifications, correspond with delivery partners and generate faultless invoices. And there are just a few of its purposes.
You can either get a general purpose fulfilment software or get yourself a customised one. Usually, this software comes with a monthly subscription fee ranging between $30 to $400. Although some of the Fulfillment software comes with a one time purchase, but that can be as expensive as $5,000.
4. The after works: Marketing and Maintenance.
Now that you’ve decided on the main body of your D2C eCommerce website, let’s talk about the footers.
In order to attract shoppers you need to do something aside from the lovely built–Run a promotional campaign. You’ll need copywriting and SEO, to get traction. While Copywriting is more like a one time investment depending on the number of pages you order, SEO goes on for as long as the website is active. Both of these depend on the scale of your D2C e-commerce website. For start ups, they can do it themselves, while larger entities might need assistance.
To sum up, the cost of marketing and copywriting can range anywhere from $500 to $2,000 for small scale stores and $4,000 to $5,000 for medium to large scale.
A D2C eCommerce website requires it to be maintained in order for it to run efficiently. This includes inspections and updates. Aside from technical, there is a need for store maintenance, making sure the consumer support is satisfactory, fixing various bugs and glitches.
For small scale businesses, this can be about $500 to $1,300. While if it’s large scale it can go from $300 to $1,000. This depends on the traffic.
Sample D2C ecommerce website Design and features
User Features
1. Landing Page
Home page consists of a banner, which is a slidable max of five. While clicking on the banner the user will be taken to the corresponding pages linked to the banner via URL.
1.1 Featured Products
Products which are added as features will be listed in this section. The wine brands will be listed in this section of the homepage. Each Item can be added to wishlist, compare, quick view and Add to the card. The name of the item and the price will be displayed near to each item. New item labels will be displayed on the platform. There is an option to view all, while clicking view all the user will be taken to the detailed listing page of the product.
1.2 About Us
Recent customer reviews will be displayed here, It consists of Initial DP of the user, Name of the user, Reviewed by name, star rating given and the description.
1.3 Sustainability
Recent customer reviews will be displayed here, It consists of Initial DP of the user, Name of the user, Reviewed by name, star rating given and the description.
1.4 Contact Us.
In this section users can be contacted with name, email, phone number, purpose and message.
2. Product Listing Page
In the product listing page wines will be displayed in thumbnail or List. It can be sorted by A-Z, Z-A, Newest First, Oldest First, Cheapest First, and Expensive First. Items can be filtered by price range. Each Item can be added to wishlist, compare, quick view and Add to the card. The name of the item and the price will be displayed near to each item. New item labels will be displayed on the platform. There is an option to view all, while clicking view all the user will be taken to the detailed listing page of the product. Lazy loading has to be implemented in the listing page. Member Price and Normal Price will be displayed.
3. Product Page
In the product page, the item name, stock status, price and offers will be displayed.
The items can be added to cart, and can instantly buy and compare.
Short description of the product can be seen. Then a number of items can be selected. More information and details about the product can be added. The product thumbnails and images can be added. Social media share is also available. Product review can be also added from this page.
4. Product Review.
Product review can be added by giving rating, name and comment. On this page recently viewed products can be also seen.
5. User Registration/login.
Users can login to the platform using email and password. While creating an account users can login using email, facebook or gmail.
6. User Profile.
In the profile section the user details, including name, email, date of birth, gender and photo.
In the order section the details of the previous order and its status can be seen. Also the products that were added to wishlist can be seen in this section. Reviews given by the user can be seen. Also the delivery address can be added in this section.
7. Shopping Cart.
In this section the products added to the card can be seen and go to check out.
Admin Features
1. Admin Dashboard
1.1 Recent Order
Latest orders are displayed on the dashboard of an admin panel. This feature displays the most recent orders and links to its details directly from the dashboard. Can also find the sum of display orders. This section is very useful in finding out the most recent orders and the administrator can directly take necessary action.
1.2 Featured Products
The recently added products’ list is displayed on the dashboard of an administrator panel along with the SKU number and a link to edit all necessary information on products.
1.3 Recent Customers
Recent Customers are listed in this section.
1.4 Monthly Revenue Graphs
Every d2c e-commerce owner wants to find the monthly revenue and other information quickly. In the administrator panel, we have taken care of this part, and monthly revenue is displayed in this graph format with taxes, shipping, and quantities information. This part displays status of orders and an amount; you can also directly navigate the detail page to the revenue section. Administrator users can easily change the range according to the known revenue of the particular period.
1.5 Quick stats
In this section the quick statistics of earnings, sales, refund, order, total visitors and new customers can be seen.
2. Order Management
In order management, recent orders can be seen in this section. Where the details of the product with customer details, product ID , price quantity sold and delivery status can be seen
3. Catalogue Management
Product catalogue can be added in this section with Product image, stock quantity , price and discount applied.
4. Customer Management
In customer Management, the details of recent customers joined can be seen with name, email and phone number.
5. Report Management
In report management section the report related to revenue, sales and order can be seen and compared against different time periods.
Conclusion
Our suggestion would be to make a customized D2C e-commerce website. That gives you the power to represent more accurately.
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