D2C

Also called Direct-to-Consumer and DTC

Direct to consumer: brands that sell straight to shoppers through their own channels, online store, app, rather than through retailers or distributors.

Why it matters

D2C lets brands own the customer relationship, data, and margin, but they carry the full cost of acquisition and fulfillment. The model rewards strong brand and repeat purchases, and punishes weak retention and expensive ads.

For example

boAt sells its audio products straight to consumers online, owning the customer relationship and margin instead of selling through electronics retailers.

Worth your time

Unit Economics for DTC Brands: The Complete Guide Top Growth Marketing · article If you sell a one-time product and think LTV is a SaaS thing, this piece does the reframe cleanly: for a physical-goods brand, LTV is just AOV times purchase frequency times how long people keep coming back. It is honest that a lot of brands lose money on the first order and only turn a profit on repeat buyers, which is exactly the mental shift a one-time-product founder needs. Treat it as a starting point for wiring your own numbers, not a set of benchmarks to copy blindly. Open topgrowthmarketing.com →

Related terms

B2C Repeat Purchase Rate Customer Acquisition Cost

Go deeper

See how founders actually handle this on Growing and marketing, part of the Starting Up hub.

eChai Partner Brands