Retail

40% of Americans shopped direct-to-consumer in 2019: study

17 Jan '20

2 min read

Pic: Shutterstock

Forty per cent of Americans have made a purchase from direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands last year, according to a new survey from communications agency Diffusion. The study found 14 per cent of those shoppers made 1-19 per cent of their purchases from DTC companies. Another 2 per cent of respondents said they did almost all of their shopping through DTC brands.

DTC purchases overtook traditional retail in notable categories such as health and beauty products at 35 per cent, apparel at 34 per cent and technology and gadgets at 26 per cent. Leading reasons for choosing DTC purchasing over a traditional retailer was cost at 48 percent followed by fast, free shipping and easy returns at 43 per cent, the company said in a press release.

Social media or influencers accounted for 19 per cent of how consumers heard of the DTC brands, followed by print or online advertisements at 18 per cent, word of mouth from friends at 15 per cent and print or online reviews at 14 per cent. About 9 per cent of respondents also reported hearing of DTC brands through podcast advertisements.

Though DTC was popular, the survey also found that consumer had interest in visiting a DTC’s physical store. As many as 37 per cent of those studied wanted to visit a physical shop to get a sense of the product, 32 per cent wanted to visit for convenience, and 28 per cent wanted to receive the product right away.

Another 27 per cent expressed interest in visiting multiple DTC brands in a single location. Even with those options, over 26 per cent of Americans still look for positive reviews or media coverage before making a DTC purchase.

Fibre2Fashion News Desk (DS)

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