What is holding manufacturers back from selling their products online and moving beyond traditional distribution? See what an end-to-end solution could mean for your brand’s growth.
In a recent post, we discussed the current state of selling direct to consumer for brand manufacturers. The conclusion? The data is overwhelming – selling DTC online is not only the future for brands, it’s the present, and the shift is happening faster than anticipated.
Driven by changing consumer preferences and technology, eCommerce is now driving more than 20% of retail sales and 100% of retail growth in the majority of consumer categories. As a result, manufacturers are quickly searching for ways to adapt and excel in this new, exciting frontier.
The benefits of a multi-channel, direct to consumer approach is clear: increased sales, stronger margins, control of pricing and branding, and better customer relationships. So what is holding manufacturers back from selling their products online and moving beyond traditional distribution?
The complexity.
As a manufacturer, you know your product inside and out. You know your brand. But all-too-often, brand manufacturers lack the internal resources and expertise to successfully enter the direct to consumer space. There’s also a major deficiency in speed and agility required by eCommerce. This is where eCommerce as a Service can make an incredible impact on your business.
What is eCommerce as a Service?
You are probably already familiar with terms like Saas (Software as a Service), Iaas (Infrastructure as a Service), and Paas (Platform as a Service), but what about eCommerce as a Service?
eCommerce as a Servicemarries software and services to provide brands with a powerful way to unlock the incredible opportunity of a multichannel, DTC selling strategy through an outsourced end to end eCommerce operation. Through this model, a brand manufacturer has access to leading eCommerce technology, shared resources across key functions (IT, customer service, fraud mgmt, analytics, fulfillment, finance/tax, etc.), and deep eCommerce domain expertise – all delivered as a Service.
Why are brands turning to eCommerce as a Service?
Navigating the intricacies of selling directly to consumers through marketplaces and online stores can be overwhelming, not to mention expensive and time consuming. For example, a brand manufacturer’s DTC operation with annual sales of $10 million would require $2 million in capital expenditures and $4 million in operating expenditures.
By leveraging the expertise of an eCommerce as a Service provider, brands can get their products to market faster and enjoy a new level of eCommerce capabilities, without the pricetag of an internal operation.
That’s why 68% of brands with less than $1billion in revenue outsource some portion of their eCommerce function.
So who offers End to End eCommerce-as-a-Service?
Ally. We are an eCommerce solutions provider for brand manufacturers currently or considering selling direct to consumer. While there are plenty of eCommerce technologies and service providers out there, Ally combines services with software to bring a full end-to-end solution to brand manufacturers.
The result? Huge opportunities for brands to maximize sales, reduce total cost of ownership and move faster. But don’t just take our word for it…
Ally has been fantastic from the start. They move quickly and have an extreme focus on ROI. Since we partnered with Ally, the success of our direct to consumer business in the US has exceeded expectations. — Raj Makwana, eCommerce Manager at Q Acoustics
If you’re curious to see how Ally’s end to end eCommerce as a Service can help you increase conversion and margins, place more products on more channels, and increase time to market, get in touch with our team today.
