A playbook
Master fulfillment and CX
Inventory, shipping, returns, and support that create repeat buyers, not tickets.
5 steps, 31 questions, laid out in the order you'll hit them
Each step is a topic with the real questions D2C founders ask; open whichever one you're stuck on for the answer and the resources on it.
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1
Inventory & demand planning
Never stock out on your hero, never drown in dead SKUs.
How much safety stock should I actually be holding on my hero SKU? 4 → How do I forecast demand for a brand-new SKU with zero sales history? 4 → My bestseller keeps going out of stock during sales, how do I fix my reorder timing? 4 → How do I stop drowning in dead and slow-moving SKUs? 4 → Do I need inventory management software, or can I still run this on spreadsheets? 4 → All 6 questions in Inventory & demand planning → -
2
Warehousing & 3PL fulfillment
Store and ship without owning a warehouse.
Should I rent my own warehouse or just go with a 3PL? 4 → How do I actually evaluate and pick the right 3PL, what questions do I ask? 4 → What's the difference between marketplace fulfillment (like Amazon/Flipkart) and a D2C 3PL warehouse? 4 → How do I get a proper WMS in place so I can actually trust my inventory data? 4 → When should I move from one warehouse to multiple fulfillment centers across India? 4 → All 6 questions in Warehousing & 3PL fulfillment → -
3
Shipping, couriers & aggregators
Get parcels delivered cheap, fast, and everywhere.
Should I use a shipping aggregator like Shiprocket, or go direct with a courier? 4 → Delhivery vs Ekart vs Blue Dart vs Xpressbees, which courier should I actually use? 4 → How do I get my shipping costs down without wrecking delivery speed? 4 → How do I ship internationally from India without getting killed by customs and duties? 4 → How do I give customers real-time delivery tracking when I'm shipping across multiple couriers? 4 → All 6 questions in Shipping, couriers & aggregators → -
4
RTO, returns & COD management
The silent margin-killer, control the return.
What is RTO and why is it quietly killing my D2C margins? 4 → What's a normal RTO rate in India, and how do I know if mine is too high? 4 → Should I even offer COD, or just go prepaid-only? 4 → How do I actually reduce RTO and block fake or fraudulent COD orders? 4 → How do I convert COD orders to prepaid, and what is partial COD? 4 → All 7 questions in RTO, returns & COD management → -
5
Customer support & CX
Support that creates repeat buyers, not tickets.
What customer support channels should a D2C brand actually offer at launch? 4 → Gorgias, Zendesk, or Freshdesk, which helpdesk should I actually pick? 4 → How do I set up WhatsApp for customer support in India, Gallabox, Interakt, Zoko, or WATI? 4 → How do I stop 'where is my order' messages from drowning my support inbox? 4 → What response-time and resolution benchmarks should my support team actually be hitting? 4 → All 6 questions in Customer support & CX →