Consumer E-Commerce

Direct to Consumer (D2C) E-Commerce: Goals and Strategies of Brand Manufacturers

Uwe Leimstoll and Ralf Wölfle

Abstract Contrary to expectations expressed in the 1990s, e-commerce has so far led to relatively little disintermediation. Even large and well-known brands continue to generate the majority of their sales through traditional distribution channels. However, many end customers expect to be able to buy directly from the brand. In addition, structural changes in the value chain have made it necessary to present the brand on the Internet in a brand-specific manner. Depending on the structure of their online activities, however, brand manufacturers are competing with their traditional indirect distribution channels, which remain important for them. This raises the question of which e-commerce strategies brands can use to meet the needs of end customers without harming their distribution partners. To answer this ques- tion, qualitative expert interviews were conducted with e-commerce managers of market-shaping Swiss companies. The results confirm that the importance of brand engagement in communication and interaction with end customers is increasing. For the implementation of online direct sales, three strategies have emerged that avoid or at least minimize conflicts with traditional sales partners: a pure online direct sales strategy, a multi-touch-point strategy, and a platform strategy. The multi-touch-point strategy can in turn be designed in four different variations.

Keywords Online direct sales · Direct-to-consumer e-commerce · Direct distribution channels · Disintermediation · Intermediary functions

1 Introduction

Brand manufacturers (also brand suppliers or just brands) have not actively pushed online direct sales for many years. Depending on the industry, they are more or

U. Leimstoll (B) · R. Wölfle School of Business, Institute for Information Systems, FHNW University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland, Peter Merian-Strasse 86, 4002 Basel, Switzerland e-mail: [email protected]

R. Wölfle e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 R. Dornberger (ed.), New Trends in Business Information Systems and Technology, Studies in Systems, Decision and Control 294, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48332-6_16

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less careful in selling directly to consumers (D2C). Consequently, the degree of disintermediationisstillratherlowincontrasttoconsiderationsmadeatthebeginning of the e-commerce era [1]. The reasons for the cautious attitude towards online direct sales are manifold. One of the main reasons is that even manufacturers of famous brands strongly depend on their traditional trading partners because in many industries the vast majority of sales are still generated via traditional distribution chains and channels consisting of intermediaries such as general agents, importers, wholesalers, retailers, and others. Because of the significance of these partners, many brand manufacturers avoid creating conflicts, which typically occur when they build up their own direct distribution channels and thus become a competitor of their partners [2]. Other possible reasons for the reserved attitude of brand manufacturers towardsD2Cmightbemissingknow-howandpreconditionsforrealizingdirectsales. As Sarkar et al. [3] pointed out, intermediaries fulfill specific functions, which partly must be taken over by the brands themselves when they sell directly to consumers.

On the other hand, brand manufacturers have several good reasons and even needs to invest in direct sales channels [4]. Consumers do not only expect an informative website with an engaging online presentation of brand products by the manufacturer. Above all, they do not understand if the brand’s website does not offer the opportunity to purchase the articles online. Particularly within industries, which are affected by product piracy, customers strive to reduce the risk of purchasing fake products by orderingdirectlyfromthebrandmanufacturer’sflagshiporonlinestore.Additionally, for consumers identifying with the brand, shopping directly from the brand is part of their brand experience.

From the point of view of brand manufacturers, complete control over distri- bution and prices often builds the motivation to invest in direct sales channels. These investments could also be driven by the reduction of distribution costs by bypassing the intermediaries, the increase of market coverage, the provision of a brand-specific market presence, or the direct relationship between supplier and customer [5]. The latter enables the realization of services that are better tailored to customer requirements and behavior and thus lead to stronger customer loyalty.

Finally, brand manufacturers face a trade-off between maintaining their relation- ship with traditional distribution partners on the one hand and meeting consumer expectations and their own distribution goals on the other hand. Thus, the topic of online direct sales implies an enormous challenge for brand manufacturers. It needs solutions that show possible ways of how to solve or reduce the described trade-off.

The goal of this paper is to find useful strategies brand manufacturers can apply to meet the needs of their end customers without harming the business of their traditional trading partners too strongly or even with offering benefits for them. The hypothesis followed in this paper is that there exist direct online sales strategies for brand manufacturers, which avoid creating conflicts with traditional distribution partners. The research questions derived from this hypothesis are the following:

(1) Which online channels belong to the area of online direct sales? (2) What kind of online strategies are possible for brand manufacturers?

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(3) Which strategies have the potential to avoid conflicts with other partners in the value chain?

This chapter focuses on the online direct sales of brand manufacturers or compa- rable companies that also sell via the classic distribution channels, i.e. via importers and the wholesale and retail trade. Pure direct sales, as known from big brands such as Tupperware or Thermomix, are not considered. Vertically integrated companies that realize the wholesale and retail level only through their own companies, such as H&M, Tally Weijl or Ikea are also not considered.

However, sales via digital platforms such as electronic marketplaces or social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are included. The brand manu- facturer can implement sales via such platforms mostly independently and self- determined. It therefore seems justified to interpret this distribution channel as a direct sales channel.

The following section defines relevant terms and gives a short overview of the recent literature in the field of direct to consumer e-commerce. Section 3 describes the research approach and the procedure of collecting and analyzing data. In a next step, the transformation of the Swiss retail market will be explained in order to under- stand the initial situation of the brand manufacturers and their need to act (Sect. 4). Section 5 reports the motivation and goals of the brand manufacturers, followed by an explanation and discussion of possible online direct sales strategies (Sect. 6). Section 7 summarizes the results, draws conclusions, and indicates limitations and topics for further research.

2 Literature Review

Direct sales in general can be described as sales, which are realized via vertically integrated distribution channels. The channels or distribution chains can look different: they can consist of several value chain stages such as wholesaling and retailing (e.g. flagship stores, outlets), which are all operated or at least controlled by the brand manufacturer, or they can be more directly connected to the consumer via sales persons or online shops. However, the operation of supporting functions such as payment, transport, or advertising can be outsourced to third party service providers [6].

A narrower definition limits direct sales to personal selling activities to private end-users (consumers) outside physical selling locations as it is realized e.g. by well- known brands like Vorwerk or Tupperware [7]. In this chapter, the narrow definition is not appropriate because it covers only a very specific kind of distribution channel. Using a broader definition is necessary in order to show how online activities of brand manufacturers are established parallel to distribution activities along the traditional distribution chains.

As online activities build the focus of this chapter, the area of online direct sales channels is of particular relevance. They can be defined as online sales channels,

240 U. Leimstoll and R. Wölfle

Brand manufacturer

(brand) Wholesaler Retailer Consumer

Online Direct Sales or Direct to Consumer (D2C)

Indirect distribution

channel

Fig. 1 Concurrent channels in a manufacturer business model

which are operated by the brand manufacturer to sell products directly to the business or private end customer. This means that no other intermediaries, neither electronic marketplaces nor other brokers or resellers, are involved in the transaction process [6]. Li et al. [6] additionally require that the complete transaction process including agreement and ordering can be realized on the online platform.

The opposite of direct sales are indirect sales. They are created via distribution channels, which incorporate third party partners such as general agents, importers, wholesalers, and retailers. Indirect and direct distribution channels can be combined (Fig.1).Iftheyarecombinedinoneregionalmarketwiththesameproductlineinboth channels, they are called concurrent channels [8]. The operation of concurrent chan- nels gives customers the opportunity to choose the channel that best fits their needs. At the same time, it gives the brand manufacturer the chance to achieve a better market coverage [8, 9]. International brand manufacturers with rather long and diverse distribution chains often operate their own distribution centers in the target coun- tries supporting their own and—if appropriate—third party retailers with marketing communication or logistics services. Nevertheless, concurrent sales channels usually lead to intra-brand competition and conflicts among the different channels. Sa Vinhas and Anderson [8] analyze these effects in the B2B area in detail.

Selling directly to consumers is a major challenge for brand manufacturers who have worked with traditional distribution partners in the past. Although they are familiar with business-to-business (B2B) relationships and processes, they must acquire business-to-consumer (B2C) know-how anew. Accordingly, several aspects cited in the literature illustrate the problem on the side of the brands:

• Specialized resources and functions, which are needed in the relationship with consumers (e.g. sales, logistics, communication), are often not available [10].

• Specialized B2C online-distribution know-how, e.g. country- or segment-specific knowledge regarding legislation, customs regulation, customer requirements, is often missing.

• Conflicts between the goals of presenting products and selling products arise. • The competitive situation in a B2C context is different from a B2B situation [10]. • Retailers who are also important partners become competitors. The relationship

with them must therefore be reconsidered [10].

One aspect that is controversially discussed in the literature is the question of whether sales via digital intermediary platforms can still be counted as online direct

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sales. Li et al. [6] define that online direct sales exclude the involvement of brokerage platforms such as marketplaces or price comparison platforms, whereas fulfillment services can, for example, be outsourced to third parties [6].

The basic definition of direct sales states that direct distribution chains are verti- cally integrated, and distribution can therefore be controlled by the brand manufac- turer. With reference to this possibility of control, sales via brokerage platforms can also be counted as direct sales, because brand manufacturers can control the content and prices offered themselves. In addition, the contract is usually concluded directly between the supplier and the buyer and not between the intermediary and the buyer.

3 Research Design

The behavior of companies can be observed directly only to a limited extent. In order to gain deeper insights into the goals pursued and strategies implemented by brand manufacturers, an explorative and interpretative research approach with qual- itative expert interviews is therefore suitable [11, 12]. E-commerce managers of companies that are market-shaping e-commerce providers in Switzerland are inter- viewed as experts. They are involved in the strategic positioning of their e-commerce offers and at the same time actively involved in the value creation processes. These views enable them to make statements about current developments in their industry and in Swiss e-commerce. Market-shaping e-commerce providers are defined here as companies that significantly influence the development of e-commerce in their industry. These include companies that are leaders in e-commerce in their industry (e-commerce leaders), that shape the industry by their size or reputation and are committed to e-commerce (industry leaders), or that promote e-commerce through innovative business models (e-commerce innovators).

The data and statements relevant to the research questions examined here were collected at the beginning of 2016 [4] as part of a large-scale study, the E-Commerce Report Switzerland. The E-Commerce Report Switzerland is an annual panel study on the development of e-commerce in Switzerland, which has been conducted since 2009 (see for example [13–15]. A total of 36 companies from different industries— mainly consumer electronics, fashion, food and beverage, lifestyle, media, travel, and marketplaces—took part in the study in 2016. Among them are twelve companies that act as brand manufacturers or brand suppliers and sell online directly to consumers (e.g. FREITAG lab., Nespresso Suisse, Swiss International Air Lines, SBB Swiss Federal Railways, Scott Sports, Victorinox).

The survey is designed as a structured expert discussion with open and closed questions, which allows a constructive and in-depth examination of the topics [12]. The questionnaire is not identical for all companies, as in some cases it also contains questionsthatareadaptedtospecificindustriesandcompanies.Thestudyparticipants received the printed questionnaire at the beginning of the interview. They were only pre-informed about the general topics a few days before.

242 U. Leimstoll and R. Wölfle

Company representatives who have already been interviewed several times in previous years are sometimes interviewed in writing. The questionnaire for the written survey is largely identical to that used for the interviews. In 2016, six new participants were added to the panel specifically for the topic “Online direct sales”. A modified questionnaire with some topic-specific questions was used for the brand manufacturers. In total, the authors conducted 32 personal interviews, and four experts answered the questionnaire in writing.

The written documentation of the interviews was done by listening to the audio recordings and writing a summary transcript [16]. The transcription follows previ- ously formulated rules to ensure a consistent approach [17]. The transcription was done question by question and followed the course of the interview.

The level of detail of the answers, the range of the statements, and the confiden- tiality of the individual statements made an interpretive condensation necessary. The interpretation was carried out by the authors themselves because of the expertise this requires.

4 E-Commerce Drives the Transformation of Distribution Chains

This section describes the current situation of the trade in general and specifically of B2C e-commerce in order to show the current developments, which determine the conditions for the market players. All experts interviewed in this study rather agree or fully agree that a transformation of the value chains is currently taking place in their industry. As the study is about B2C e-commerce, the descriptions focus on the distribution chains between suppliers and consumers.

In the eyes of the experts, structural change in Switzerland is primarily reflected in the following changes: the appearance of innovative business models driven by the Internet and mobile computing, ever-increasing customer requirements, falling margins and prices, superior foreign suppliers, and a growing range of products and services (more products and providers). In some industries, these changes occur in parallel, so that it is obvious that the situation of many suppliers is becoming increasingly acute as demand stagnates. In addition to digitalization and increasing networking, developments in foreign markets are emerging as drivers of these devel- opments. Foreign suppliers have more sales potential due to the size of the market, motivating them to make higher investments. This in turn allows them to achieve positive economies of scale and to offer a higher service level—often at lower prices.

On the supplier side, an increasing division of work and specialization can be observed as a result of increasing digitalization and networking along the value chain. This means that countless service providers are emerging to take over individual retail functions. This in turn leads to the effect that typical functional bundles of the retail trade dissolve [18–20], more alternatives for the provision of retail functions are

Direct to Consumer (D2C) E-Commerce … 243

emerging and the classic distribution channels are losing their importance for brand manufacturers.

On the consumer side, this loss of importance is driven by the general shift of purchase-related activities to online channels. The volume of online trade in Switzer- land has grown by approximately 10% annually over the past ten years. Depending on the product category, it now accounts for between 2 and 50% of private household consumption expenditure [21].

In order to compensate for the loss of importance of the traditional distribution channels and to ensure the service level defined by the brand, the importance of direct sales is increasing for brand manufacturers. Within the framework of the series of studies described here, it was observed that Swiss e-commerce retailers have been aware of increased direct sales activities by brand manufacturers since 2012, coinciding with a strong depreciation of the euro. For this reason, the topic of direct sales was taken up as the main topic of the study in 2016. In the interviews, a large majority of the respondents agreed that many brand manufacturers have been trying to control the online sales of their products themselves or at least sell parts of their product range directly to end customers since around 2012.

5 Motivation and Goals for Direct Sales

In the discussions with brand manufacturers, it becomes clear that the structural changes require a stronger commitment of the brand manufacturers. One manufac- turer describes that in the years to come, brands will have to take on more retail functions in order to ensure the customer’s brand experience. The reason for this is the declining margins, which means that retailers will no longer be able to provide personnel-intensive services. To compensate for this, brands will have to become more involved in this area, which will lead to a shift of retail functions to the brand manufacturers. Compared to retailers, brand manufacturers have the advantage that their specialization and size enable them to provide the necessary services at a higher quality and possibly also at lower cost.

Other statements reflect the fact that retailers are increasingly being restricted: They cannot physically display all brands or their complete assortment, not least because of the decline in physical sales space. Even in specialist shops, sales staff can no longer know all the details of the wide range of products, which limits their advisory skills. This is exacerbated by the changed customer behavior: Customers are often better informed than the sales staff in the retail stores due to the information options available today. In order to obtain authentic information, they increasingly turn directly to the brands for information and questions. By doing so, they expect to be able to buy the products from the manufacturer, e.g. to ensure that they receive original and up-to-date articles. This is clearly expressed in a statement by Kilian Eyholzer of Victorinox:

244 U. Leimstoll and R. Wölfle

© 2016 FHNW

Findings from the direct observation of customer behavior in the shop, from customer feedback (without the intention of collecting individual customer profiles)

n = 30

Possibility to determine the scope of the assortment sold

Achieving income from direct sales

High priority Medium priority Low priority No significance

Ensuring an optimal product and brand presentation on the Internet

Establishing and maintaining our own direct customer relationships with end customers

8

10

14

22

24

8

11

9

4

6

13

7

7

1

2

3

1

Fig. 2 Goals for D2C sales of brand manufacturers [4]

Customers today expect an online shop from us. In a survey, two customer concerns stood out above all others: Customers want to see the prices and be able to order directly online.

The goals that brand manufacturers want to achieve with their own online sales are multifaceted. Surprisingly, only half of the panel participants believe that generating income from direct sales is a high priority for brands—this motive is in the middle of the field compared to other motives (Fig. 2). This means that a direct distribution channel is not always intended to mainly serve as a sales channel. Less surprisingly, ensuring optimal product and brand presentation on the Internet is given the highest priority. After all, this is a core task of brand suppliers. The results also clearly show the efforts to build direct customer relationships with end customers and to derive insights from the interaction with customers.

6 Strategies for D2C Sales of Brand Manufacturers

This section describes and analyzes the strategic options that brand manufacturers in Switzerland have developed to position themselves in the online business. It is apparent that some strategies are designed to avoid conflicts with traditional distri- bution partners in order not to jeopardize the indirect distribution channel, which remains important. Three fundamentally different strategies can be observed: pure online direct sales strategy, multi-touch-point strategy, and platform strategy.

6.1 Pure Online Direct Sales Strategy

A very consistent way to avoid conflicts of interest with distribution partners in the classic value chain is to position the company as a purely direct selling company. This naturally presupposes that sufficient access to consumers is possible without

Direct to Consumer (D2C) E-Commerce … 245

intermediaries and that the direct distribution channel is viable enough to achieve a critical sales volume. If direct sales are made purely online, it is also necessary to perform value-added functions that would otherwise be performed by the retailer, either by oneself or with the help of specialized service providers.

This is the path taken by the ifolor photo laboratory in Kreuzlingen, originally an indirect distribution company. Its aim is to ensure that its positioning as an online pure player is diluted as little as possible by additional channels. ifolor has mastered the digital transformation in photography and is now exploiting the potential arising from digitalization, e.g. mass production of individualized photo books and other photo products. The efficiency of digitally controlled production processes is so high that the company can produce in Switzerland—even for foreign countries. The restriction to an online direct sales channel also contributes to the high efficiency and the result of the business model. Sven Betzold from ifolor puts it like this:

B2B customers are a completely different clientele than B2C customers. In marketing and sales, completely different instruments are required and this has an impact on the cost structure.

ThecompanymySwissChocolate,alsoaproviderofindividualizedmassproducts, follows similar principles and considerations. The manufacturer of chocolate bars and chocolate greeting messages started as an Internet start-up, which made it easier to enter the pure direct online business. However, the manufacturer of chocolate bars had to shift its business model to business customers in order to scale sufficiently in a small country like Switzerland.

The pure online direct sales strategy cannot only be applied to individualized prod- ucts. The Swiss company Blacksocks, for example, sells standardized mass products under the brand of the same name, primarily socks and shirts, very successfully in more than one hundred countries. Blacksocks also started out as a pure online player.

6.2 Multi-touch-point Strategy

ifolor’s transformation from purely indirect to purely direct sales is rather unusual and went hand in hand with the technological change from analogue to digital photog- raphy. For existing manufacturers with an established distribution structure via the retail trade, the focus is usually on being able to incorporate new customer touch points into their sales concept and to avoid conflicts with existing distribution partners wherever possible. A multi-touch-point strategy has emerged as the most important approach to solve this problem. It differs from a multi-channel strategy in that a touch point is not necessarily a sales channel. The primary goal is to be present in the customer journey in as many places as possible. Michael Lipburger from Jura Elektroapparate observes:

When buying high-quality coffee machines, the pre-purchase phase and the purchase phase are often decoupled and take place on different channels.

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At the heart of the direct customer contact of brand manufacturers via online channels is their own website, online product catalogue, or online shop. If a purchase opportunity exists, the question arises to what extent the manufacturers compete with their traditional trading partners by structuring their conditions. According to previous observations, only a few, typically very strong brands are entering into fierce competition with their trading partners. Examples of this can be found in the aviation industry in the sale of airline tickets; Apple is mentioned several times as another example.

In order to reduce conflicts with distribution partners in a multi-touch-point strategy, various measures can be considered. On the one hand, it can be observed that brands divide their business activities in order to avoid conflicts. Online direct sales are then only operated in a separate business segment. Two examples come from the publishing industry: In the case of specialist and textbooks, publishers are estab- lishing new forms of distribution via databases and licenses, completely bypassing the book trade. In the case of e-books, they are reducing the book trade to a role of intermediary via agency contracts. This way, publishers can determine the sales price themselves and eliminate price competition at the retail level.

On the other hand, it is common practice to provide different distribution channels for different product lines. To do this, a product hierarchy and a channel hierarchy are defined and combined with each other depending on the positioning. Exclusive products, for example, are only offered through the company’s own channels or through particularly loyal sales partners, where brand presentation and pricing policy correspond to the manufacturer’s ideas. Other products are distributed more widely and in the traditional way, where differing forms of presentation and sales prices are accepted to a certain extent. Nespresso has been very successful in doing this. Patrick Th. Oken of Nespresso Suisse describes why the machines are sold through stationary retailers:

Getting started with the Nespresso system begins with the purchase of a machine. For this, Nespresso uses the reach and the stimulation potential of the stationary trade.

A third measure can be observed in young companies. Right from the start, they establish indirect sales and online direct sales side by side and try to maintain a roughly uniform price level in both channels. In this constellation, the brand achieves reach through its stationary trading partners and direct customer contact via the online channel. An example of this is ON-Running, a running shoe brand that is currently in high demand.

The fourth measure, cooperation between brand manufacturers and retailers, is ideally designed to benefit both parties. For example, the brand manufacturer could support its dealers in presenting its brand appropriately on the dealers’ online channels. The brand manufacturer could also refer to dealers’ shops on its website— however, this is often not well resolved at the moment. The brand Neue Wiener Werkstätten(NWW)hasimplementedanexemplarycooperationwithitsdealers.The products are high-quality furniture, which are sold through specialist trade partners. As the online activities of the specialist trade partners were not always satisfactory from the brand’s point of view, NWW now conducts the customer dialogue itself via

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all online touch points. For this purpose, an online shop for the furniture was set up. With the trading partners, extended distribution agreements are being made: They provide delivery, assembly, customer service, etc. for online orders in the NWW online shop and are credited the full trading margin in return. They also support and advise customers in the selection of furniture. In the end, both brand manufacturer and dealers are in continuing contact with the customers. The special thing about this example is that a weaker brand, in coordination with its existing distribution partners, implements a multi-touch-point strategy with online sales consistently and with little conflict.

6.3 Platform Strategy

As already described in the introduction, self-determined distribution via digital platforms is also counted as online direct distribution here. Sales via such— partly global—platforms thus represent a further strategic option for direct sales to consumers. Examples of digital platforms with purchasing options are electronic marketplaces and, gradually, search engines, price comparison platforms, rating portals, and social networks.

Although consumers are looking for products not only on Google, but increas- ingly also on electronic marketplaces and other digital intermediary platforms, many manufacturers find it difficult to offer their brands on such platforms. When doing so, they have the chance to meet their customers’ needs in a partly self-controlled way: They can determine part of the content and presentation themselves and give customers the security of receiving original products.

On the other hand, brands are usually not able to present their products on these platforms as well as they would like. They cannot determine, which other products are presented on the platform, and are exposed to price competition. If the branded product is offered on the same platform also by dealers and if these dealers are part of the traditional distribution chain of the brand manufacturer, other undesir- able competitive situations arise. These are particularly problematic where there are relevant price differences between the manufacturer’s and the dealer’s price.

Due to the pros and cons, the brand suppliers represented in the study panel are divided in terms of their own involvement in digital platforms. Many brands would prefer to completely prevent the supply of their products for example on marketplaces, which is hardly possible for antitrust and other reasons. Many brands, however, have abandoned their initial reluctance towards online platforms. One participant in the study states that it is better to sell the goods via a third party on the Internet than not to sell them at all.

248 U. Leimstoll and R. Wölfle

7 Conclusion

This chapter analyzes the online direct sales activities of brand manufacturers. Despite online channels and digitalization, most of them still use the traditional distribution channels via wholesale and retail. The aim is therefore to determine how brand manufacturers can structure their online distribution activities without getting into too much competition with their traditional distribution partners.

To answer this question, an explorative and interpretive research approach was chosen. For this purpose, 36 e-commerce managers from potentially market-shaping companies were interviewed. Among them, there were twelve brand manufacturers.

The results initially show that the Swiss retail trade is characterized by a far- reaching transformation process, in which, among other things, there is a shift from offline to online channels. The importance of traditional retailers for the distribution of branded products is thus diminishing. As a result, brand manufacturers have to find alternative distribution channels to compensate for the decline in sales in traditional retail, topresentthebrandoptimallyintheonlineworldandalsotoprovideconsumers with direct contact.

This is then also expressed by the motivation that has been driving brand manu- facturers to expand their online activities since 2012. It is not so much the achieve- ment of additional revenues, but rather the establishment of direct communication relationships with consumers and the use of the resulting data.

Three basic strategies have emerged as possible strategies for direct to consumer e-commerce of brand manufacturers: the pure online direct sales strategy, the multi- touch-point strategy, and the platform strategy. The first two are designed or can be designed in such a way that conflicts with other distribution partners are largely avoided. In the case of the platform strategy, this depends on whether brand manu- facturers and retailers are active with the same products on the same platform or not.

The pure online and the multi-touch-point strategy are mutually exclusive, while both can be combined with a platform strategy. Direct sales via a digital platform can therefore be used by both pure online brand manufacturers and manufacturers who maintain several contact points.

One limitation is that the analysis is based primarily on the statements of indi- viduals who all hold similar positions in e-commerce. Thus, the perspective of the respondents is quite similar. Since the panel participants are potentially market- shaping e-commerce companies, the database from the interviews is not representa- tive. Finally, only twelve companies belong to the core group of online direct-selling brand manufacturers.

In a further research step, the sample should therefore be increased in order to obtain a better overview of the behavior of the large mass of brand manufacturers. In addition, it would be interesting to analyze and evaluate the identified online direct sales strategies in terms of their success. Furthermore, other forms of cooperation could be developed in which brand manufacturers and retailers support each other so that both can benefit.

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