🟢 DTC is still the new frontier

In business strategy, we often work on elaborate approaches to innovate the market: fancy digital tools, disruptive monetization schemes, breakthrough opportunities, and more. Yet, the simple truth is that most leaders in any given market have yet to achieve one core elementary move: being able to address their customers directly.

Whatever your market, look around you and assess yourself how much 'Direct to Consumer' (DTC) is still an elusive frontier.

And there are a few historical reasons for that to begin with.

First, a few decades ago, it would absolutely make sense to spread out a business nationwide and then possibly internationally by minimizing the capital requirements involved. The larger your footprint, the faster your costs will scale. This is OK when the market is growing fast, too, but owning all your teams, resources, shop networks, and commercial assets makes you structurally fragile whenever the market slumps.

The solutions were then obvious. From franchising à la McDonald's to relying on distributors for regional and/or vertical representation, offsetting your expansion risks could be done quite easily and with a proven record of success. To the point of trying to own your sales operations and representation fully would seem positively foolish to anyone with business common sense.

Then digital came in.