Should I start on marketplaces or build my own D2C site first?
Marketplaces give you instant discovery and built-in trust, genuinely useful when you have no brand recognition yet, while your own site gives you full margin, customer data ownership and pricing control from day one. There's no universal right answer: a McKinsey-cited survey of Indian MSMEs found roughly a 53/47 split favouring D2C-first vs marketplace-first, which tells you both paths work depending on category and capital. If your product needs discovery (broad category, price-comparison shoppers) start on marketplaces; if it needs storytelling and repeat purchase (skincare routines, subscription-friendly categories) invest in your own site first and add marketplaces once you have proof of demand.
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3 resources, 2 India-specific, 2 link-checked.
📄 Article
✓ Link checkedIndiaFreeBeginner
A practical, decision-oriented take squarely aimed at founders weighing exactly this choice, with less macro fluff than some of the trade-press coverage on the same topic.
A fulfilment-company's-eye view of the website-vs-marketplace decision, which is useful precisely because it centres on the operational (not just marketing) implications of each path.
A current, India-specific framing of the D2C-vs-marketplace decision, written for exactly the founder audience asking this question, not a generic global strategy piece retrofitted with Indian examples.
