EDITOR’S LETTER

Digital is increasingly closing the gap between manufacturers and consumers. The findings from a recent research suggests that during this year, more than 30% of consumers are expected to buy directly from the manufacturers’ website and close to 70% of manufactures are expected to sell directly to consumers. In almost every industry right from media, packaged goods, banking, insurance, retail, hospitality and services, enterprises are putting together digital business models to close the gap with the customer. Direct to consumer (DTC) engagement also makes it relatively easy for manufacturers to provide personalized experiences to their consumer, makes it convenient for consumers to engage with the brand and get a better understanding of their preferences.

This edition of Illuminar showcases five such brands who have disrupted the industry, innovated in the ways they have engaged directly with their consumers and built a whole new business model around DTC. It is without doubt, that there are a lot many success stories in this space, and picking five from the list may not be entirely justifiable. The plan for the upcoming editions therefore, is to showcase the additional success stories of enterprises who have done interesting work in DTC.

Shaping customer experiences via digital and using it as a tool to build a new business models is exciting to hear about and execute. While digital is a great tool to reach consumers directly, it is also a double edged sword – consumers are less patient online. Even a ten second wait for a page to load can make consumers to quit and leave the page. Consumers tend to immediately fault the company no sooner that they have a less than favorable customer experience.

As in any business model, DTC also has a fair share of continuous innovation. With bots heralded as the new apps all over the internet, it is soon becoming the new face of customer experience for brands as they allow brands to tailor experiences to suit custom preferences after analyzing their past interactions for example. The cover story for this edition features some of these innovations in more detail.

Thank you for your encouraging feedback. We highly value your suggestions around topics you may want to hear about. Our ongoing attempt is to make sure that we cover them in our editions.

Please feel free to send in videos and guest articles on digital transformation topics and we’d be happy to post them upon approval from the editorial team.

Wish you a lovely day!

Best Regards,
Srividya