Direct Selling 12#
Direct selling refers to a scenario whereby a company's products are not sold through intermediary channels, but are available directly from the manufacturer or service provider. In this way, the company skips the retail margin or any additional costs associated with the intermediates. These savings can be forwarded to the customer and a standardized sales experience established. Additionally, such close contact can improve customer relationships.
Examples: Iconic Cases
How they do it: Dollar Shave Club only sells through its website, eliminating vendor margins, allowing to bring cost savings directly to the customer.
Learn more about Dollar Shave Club →
How they do it: IKEA’s products are only available in their physical stores and on their website. The stores are standardized in terms of offering and design. The inventory in the stores, in the catalogue and on the website are identical.
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How they do it: H&M’s products are exclusively distributed through its chain of retail stores, catalogues and online store. This allows the company to have full control over their value chain and profit from earning the full retail margin.
Learn more about H&M →
How they do it: Lufthansa sells its products and services through 3rd parties such as travel agencies but also offers its customers a direct way to book. All flights can be booked on their website or via their phone hotline.
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How they do it: American Express markets its credit cards directly to end customers with targeted advertisement at events, in publications or also direct via mail.
Learn more about American Express →
Below, the top industries for the pattern "Direct Selling" are displayed, in order to get insights into how this pattern is applied across different industries. We've collected data from 5 firms using this pattern.
Top Industries
57% of firms using pattern
33% of firms using pattern
24% of firms using pattern
All Industries
Below, the pattern "Direct Selling" is analyzed based on co-occurrence, in order to get insights into how this business model pattern is applied in combination with other patterns within the firms we studied.
Top Co-Occurrences
9 pattern co-occurrences
6 pattern co-occurrences
5 pattern co-occurrences