Growth Marketing: A case study of 4 Nigerian direct-to-consumer brands.
A new generation of brands is approaching e-commerce differently in Nigeria. And these brands are causing quite a bit of disruption in the Nigerian retail industry.
What are these Direct-to-Customer or D2C brands doing differently? They are catering to people’s desire for simplicity.
Analysis paralysis already makes many customers unwilling to part with their money simply because they have way too many options.
Yes, allowing your customers to have too many options can hurt your sales. And that is why smart D2C brands are eliminating the many choices their customers have.
D2C brands manufacture, market, and distribute their products without intermediaries, enabling them to reduce costs, interact directly with consumers, and provide a seamless start-to-finish buyer’s experience.
Thanks to the ease of global distribution, some D2C brands have helped define retail’s past decade. Some of the most noteworthy examples include Casper, Dollar Shave Club, Allbirds, Everlane, Brandless, and Happy socks.
These brands aren’t just similar because they are D2Cs. They also share other things like
- Knowing their customers very well,
- Investing in an engaging and aspirational brand,
- Exceptional end-to-end customer service experiences using technology to deliver it,
- Brilliant paid marketing strategies that aren’t just designed to sell but also to tell powerful brand stories.
Do you know what is exciting? Seeing Nigerian brands take up the concept and doing it well.
Let’s look at four Nigerian D2C brands and study how they’re building the future of brands born on the internet.
Mint Eyewear
This eyewear brand is making it their life mission to make everyday life more comfortable by protecting the eyes through filtering up to 60% of blue light (emitted by computer screens, smartphones, tablets, TVs, etc.) and delivering the best value for money.
How they do it
- Innovating the entire glasses buying experience.
- User-generated content and reviews.
- A seamless omnichannel experience.
- Email Marketing
Before coming across Mint Eyewear, buying glasses in Nigeria was a stale, clinical and expensive experience. Now, this Nigerian startup uses D2C commerce to reduce stress and price without affecting its quality. Changing the shopping experience for glasses and showing off their customers on social media.
From browse to add-to-cart, Mint Eyewear’s user experience is simple, clean, and effective.
Smiley Socks Co.
A D2C brand that believes that good socks can inspire confidence and happiness. Having and sharing the gospel that a pair of socks has the power to transform not just the style but also the state of mind of their customers. The goal is to help everyone embrace their personality and be inspired to be the best version of themselves.
How they do it
- Using social media as a marketing channel and a way to interact with their customers
- User-generated content and reviews
- Focus on customer experience
- Developing a creative content marketing strategy that’s executed by an in-house content team
- A seamless omnichannel experience
Smiley Socks has been able to start and grow an engaged audience by using social media as a marketing channel to build a vibrant and fun-loving audience,
Their audience always looks forward to sharing their happy moments in a pair of Smiley socks, attached with good messages and experiences that also get more people to be a part of the brand.
With a good content strategy that looks to engage everyone on social media, Smiley socks have garnered more reach and ultimately generated more sales. The Smiley Socks team believes that the customer experience is what makes everyone happy.
Taeillo
This D2C makes furniture as rugged as Africans, at least that is what they claim. Their mission, however, is to create furniture for Africans wherever they are in the world.
How they do it
- Very creative
- Digital-first mindset, using AR/VR
- Lots of user-generated content and reviews
- Influencer Marketing
Taeillo became the go-to furniture company for most millennials, and it also made more name and sales during the lockdown in Nigeria.
As many Nigerians were forced to work from home, they had to create a comfortable setting, and Taeillo positioned itself as the best option to fulfill that lifestyle. Taeillo provides a very creative shopping experience that provides their customers an augmented reality of what they want to buy before they even get it.
They collaborated with big and micro-influencers and used user-generated content on their social media pages, which helped them build trust and loyalty quickly.
Taeillo also uses Facebook ads to drive more people to visit their online store — with their ad copy, design, offer and calls to action always on point.
They’ve seen their most significant returns on influencer marketing.
Hingees
One of my favorite brands in Nigeria, positioning itself as a lifestyle brand passionate about creating simple and functional, minimal products, is Hingees. The brand’s purpose is to help people find common ground through simple and easy-to-use products that make everyday life better.
How they do it
- A simple and carefully considered product line
- Comfortable online buying experience
- User-generated content and reviews
- Great branding and packaging
This Lagos-based startup sees a customer need in experience and meets it with creating what people love. They know the importance of branding to eCommerce, and they’ve been intentional, concise, and clean with it.
With a straightforward online shopping experience via the website or social media pages, Hingees has made it easier by combining social commerce and eCommerce, giving an omnichannel shopping experience. With heavy reliance on UGCs, they have also built trust with their audiences. What makes them unique to their customers is how they go the extra mile to delight their customers.
To Wrap it Up
Building a trustworthy brand is very important for creating a D2C brand. It also involves intimately understanding your audience and having an exceptional product. The idea is to cater to people’s desire for simplicity with an unforgettable experience.
The D2C space in Nigeria will continue to rise, and I look forward to it.
