There’s something about direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands that make people want to shop. Maybe it’s the social media strategies, the personable and down-to-earth ads, or the way that DTC brands seem to effortlessly give consumers something that they didn’t know they needed. 

Although 2020 impacted a lot of retailers across the board, DTC is one area that saw the least impact when compared to the retail market. This isn’t to say that DTC brands walked away from 2020 unscathed, however. The market and consumer preferences have changed at an unprecedented rate and every brand is facing the challenge of trying to figure out what their audience wants in the new normal. 

For DTC brands, this is especially important. When you market to a very specific audience, things like changing consumer preferences and retail giants attempting to encroach in the space can have a detrimental effect. There is one way for DTC brands to ensure that they are always ahead of the game: location intelligence.

As we mentioned earlier, 2020 caused shifts in the way that people shop and their new preferences. Consumers are less likely to spend their money on frivolous items, opting instead to shop for what they need and saving for a rainy day. With this in mind, DTC brands need a way to give their audience exactly what they need. While many DTC brands mostly rely on online data about their customers, they should also consider where their customers go in the real-world. When real-world data like location intelligence is paired with additional customer data, DTC brands can get a 360-view of their customers. 

For example, let’s say that you are a popular DTC brand that sells gardening subscription boxes. Your target market used to be senior people, but after 2020 and the sudden interest by millennials in house plants, you have a new market to go after. Using location intelligence, you are able to determine that your new audience really likes outdoor activities, and visiting health food stores in their area. With this new information, you create an entire campaign around the health benefits of gardening and why people need your at-home garden starter kit. 

It isn’t long before you start to see an immediate impact. Before, you likely would have kept trying to reel in that senior audience that wouldn’t have converted as readily as these outdoorsy and health-conscious millennials.

The early days of DTC were like the gold rush. With the internet disrupting the retail industry and the relatively low cost of underrated (at the time) social media ads, the DTC industry boomed. Whether it’s in an attempt to acquire a successful DTC shaving company or creating their own makeup subscription boxes, direct-to-consumer brands are competing with more than just each other. 

DTC brands can use location intelligence for competitive analytics. Let’s take our gardening subscription example and say that there is a large brand that is trying to do the same exact thing and advertising it to their shoppers, which just so happens to be a large piece of your audience. With location intelligence, you can analyze your target market’s preferred shopping times for this retailer and send out your ad at the exact same time, except it’s much more personalized because you used location intelligence to understand their preferences.

A pop-up shop is a great way to add that personal touch to your customer’s experience, which is why so many DTC brands are doing this. You’re thinking about doing one but aren’t sure about where to put it, and doubts of whether or not it will be worth the investment is the only thing that is preventing you from signing the lease. 

We know that pre-2020, an urban area in a highly populated city would have given you the most exposure and foot traffic. Now, in 2021, when so many people have left the big city for the suburbs or more rural areas, how can you determine what the best location for your pop-up should be? With location intelligence, you can analyze whether or not a location is viable by getting near real-time data about who is visiting that area and when taking the guesswork out of choosing your perfect location.

If you are a direct-to-consumer brand and want to understand your customers on a deeper level, get ahead of your competitors and invest in a pop-up location, then we can help you get the data you need to succeed! Contact us to speak with an expert today.