BW Marketing World & BW Disrupt: The D2C Daredevils 2023

Amid Investment winter, layoffs and a significant slowdown in technology and other sectors, some companies have managed to buck the trend and hold their own in the last year. A common feature among a majority of these is that they have managed to build a direct relationship with their consumers. India’s direct-to-consumer (D2C) revolution emanated from growing consumer needs during the pandemic but the momentum has continued, creating the blueprint for the future of ecommerce itself. Against this backdrop, BW Businessworld India’s Top D2C Brands is an initiative that recognises those who are taking this emerging market to newer heights. India’s Top D2C Brands honours 50 homegrown companies that are breaking the mould in different ways.

The Winners

To arrive at this list of the top 50, BW Businessworld’s editorial board and an advisory council studied more than 300 D2C brands that included names which have managed to grow, attract funding, scale up operations and open up new sectors. The top 50 were eventually selected from those whose models show the promise of being future-ready. The awards look at year-on-year (y-oy) growth, revenue, market share, technology innovations and ability to scale up. From this list, more than 50 per cent of the winners have witnessed over 100 per cent y-o-y growth. Around 50 per cent of the featured brands are constantly developing innovative products using technological advancements.

Since they sell to consumers directly, they have built a loyal base, particularly among Gen Z consumers. Due to the advent of Web 3.0, the rise of new dimensions in technology allowing for more immersive experiences, combined with the advent of D2C Retail, the future of ecommerce is changing. The D2C ecosystem is embracing the connect-to-consumer (C2C) strategy. 

Many D2C brands have incorporated omnichannel marketing and sales strategies to cut down on customer acquisition costs and convert first-time buyers into recurring customers. Most of the winners are also investing in building customer relationships, which continues to be an important trend for the year ahead.

Going beyond large markets remains an area of focus for D2C brands per se, more so for the brands that have made it to this list. In fact, the revenue of more than 50 per cent of the large brands in India’s Top D2C Brands 2023 come from Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities.

India’s Top D2C Brands 2023 is organised by BW Marketing World and BW Disrupt, along with BW Retail World. The initiative will be undertaken annually to celebrate growing brands in the sector.