Office Supply Manufacturing Company Case Study

Our charge was to help an office supply manufacturer, who previously sold only through distribution partners, explore the possible opportunities and risks associated with a direct-to-consumer (D2C) offering. Taking this next step is not a given for this client, and they sought to understand the implications as well as have a blueprint how to proceed.

Objectives

Our objective was to equip the leadership team with an understanding of the opportunity and the considerations of the execution of a D2C implementation. The client was seeking to explore this opportunity for the following

• Increase Brand Exposure

• Mitigate Channel Consolidation

• Evaluate Retail Pricing

We sought to outline not only the risks and considerations, but also create an actionable plan forward and roadmap to build and optimize in phases.

Solution

Leveraging stakeholder discovery, desk and guerilla research, and technology exploration, we were able to define and discuss the full extent of the opportunity, including challenges and considerations.

We delivered a comprehensive strategy that included:

• Stakeholder motivations, concerns and considerations

• Competitor (commerce) implementations

• Industry (commerce) trends

• Customer profiles & customer experiencE considerations

• Technology options and requirements

We made recommendations of technologies to explore and outlined a process to find the right fit for the client.

Results

This manufacturer has adopted the strategy and has begun taking actions on the outlined next steps by exploring technology vendors through the outlined vendor selection process