Times Are Changing As Women In the D2C Sector Reach New Heights Women are highly in sync with their employees, go above and beyond while taking care of them

If women have learned to face the storm, they have also learned to become the storm themselves. The global business climate is undergoing winds of change with women entrepreneurs coming into the forefront.

Let's take a look at how women in the D2C sector are reaching new heights by leveraging the changing times strategically:

Finding a creative niche

The pandemic unleashed the creative side of women since the whole world came to a standstill. It gave them a chance to reflect on their inborn talents. It got them to pursue hobbies and turn them into profitable, money-making businesses online. From inventing palette knife painting on cakes to arranging exclusive playdates for pets, women have gotten creative with their ideas and started tapping niche markets.

Working in a male-dominated industry, fighting prejudices, facing biases, raising funding and capital to sustain are challenges that are faced daily by women entrepreneurs. It requires sheer grit, courage in your convictions and copious amounts of unwavering faith in the credibility of your idea. Women have ventured into healthcare, pet care, home decor, fitness and wellness, mental health, handmade products such as jewelry, sustainable clothing, pre-loved apparel, accessories and much more. Online shoppers have an interesting experience when they get to choose from a wide array of options depending on their current mood, an ongoing global trend, or even pure vintage tastes.

Based on Shiprocket's report in 2021, women selling their small-business online and on social media channels rose to 39 per cent each.

Social commerce is the preferred channel for e-commerce

The Internet is one huge shopping place. It is filled with a whole world of ideas, opinions, people who wish to stand out from the crowd or merge with it. Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest are social apps that allow social commerce, the process of selling products directly on social media. Each of these platforms has a unique appeal when it comes to millions of its users who keep scrolling from dawn to dusk. Trends keep changing, fashion makes a comeback or suffers a faux pas. Each platform offers fast, frictionless ways of aiding the customer with choosing a product amongst thousands of options. Women have great networking skills and understand the importance of presenting choices. They are fast, intuitive when it comes to engaging with their target audience, resolving queries and escalations. When the entire shopping experience, from product discovery to the checkout process takes place on a social media platform in a matter of minutes, it warms the customer's feel-good experience. As per Hootsuite, social commerce is currently an $89.4 billion market right now and is proposed to jump to $604.5 billion in the next couple of years.

People want to be a part of the brand community

Women entrepreneurs have mastered the art of creating an online close-knit family of customers who look up to the brand and its founder as their very own personal influencer. Women founders are hopping on to live streams, connecting with their client base, answering queries, sharing podcasts, and inspiring more women to begin their own businesses by leveraging their talents. Online Facebook groups that cater to large-scale brand communities include a lot of micro-influencers who collaborate with D2C brands to amplify their brand reach. Clients willingly become a part of the live sessions since this brings them one step closer to their role models whom they aspire to be. A brand community helps to build long-lasting relationships, has a loyal customer base, offers valuable market insights, every customer acts like a mini-influencer, and encourages more people to try the brand. In other words, retaining customers is easier than acquiring new ones. Women entrepreneurs are making their customers feel as if they are a part of something bigger through the brand.

Women entrepreneurs aided by performance marketing

Women entrepreneurs are turning storytellers and narrating compelling and honest stories that motivate consumers to take action. They are being direct and not mincing words when it comes to their mission and vision. This helps to build long-lasting trust while building sales funnels. In other words, they are turning into performance marketers for their own products. Through performance digital marketing, they are also catering the experience to suit each prospective customer through response-driven ads without breaking their budget and enhancing brand voice. This helps to launch new products, arrange giveaways, contests, drive sales, all the while owning customer data and forging deeper bonds with customers. Sales are not restricted to tier I cities alone and tier II and III are also in the fray. It doesn't end here, women are empowering other women-led brands and collaborating together to support each other. Value-based videos, how-to videos, BTS videos all add to the entire brand experience and bring the brand closer to the consumer. If a consumer gets premium subscriptions, giveaway alerts, and discounts, it makes them feel valued and enhances the brand relationship. This adds to the sales funnel through leads and clicks.

Based on statistics shared by Forbes India, 13.76 per cent of entrepreneurs in India are women and they own 20.37 per cent of MSMEs. These numbers just go to prove that women are turning the tables and creating pathways in niche segments. For centuries, women have been known as homemakers, the ones who keep the family together. Now, they know how to keep the work-family together too. They are highly in sync with their employees, go above and beyond while taking care of them, this, in turn, fuels the employees to go above and beyond for their customers. At the end of the day, just as times are changing for women, women are changing with the times.