How B2B Brands Can Unlock Growth With a DTC Channel

B2B (business-to-business) commerce is typically characterised by lengthy sales cycles, bulk orders and slow product feedback loops. The nature of this business model can present challenges for retailers: slow‑moving inventory can erode margin, large production runs can tie up capital, and delayed feedback can lead to missed chances to address customer pain points or capitalise on market trends.

Creating a direct‑to‑consumer (DTC) channel to operate in tandem can tackle these pain points without undermining the core wholesale or B2B model. By opening a second route to market, brands can clear old stock, collect first‑hand feedback and create demand that increases retail sell‑through, increasing the velocity of wholesale replenishment orders.

In this article, we’ll look at how this works and what steps you can take to implement this approach.

Leveraging DTC for B2B: A real‑world example

This is the accidental success story of an established B2B company integrating a DTC channel into its business model.

For 20 years, the brand had been selling significant inventory to wholesale clients, growing steadily. While profitable, it had substantial cash tied up in inventory, with a percentage lost to expiration each year.

To address this, the brand connected its ERP system to Amazon, mapping and exporting batches nearing expiry to the marketplace. The results were immediate; consumers began purchasing its products directly, with volumes increasing steadily.

This simple solution improved inventory throughput, increased stock turns, and allowed the business to control sales velocity through marketplace advertising. Even at 50% of the inventory’s value, these sales were preferred to losing the value of the stock entirely.

More importantly, these marketplace sales built brand visibility in one of the places where the brand’s end consumers were already shopping, creating awareness among customers who had never encountered its products before.

Having validated this DTC model for the business, investment could be made across three key areas:

• Warehouse adjustments: The warehouse was reconfigured to handle both bulk pallet storage for B2B and bin locations for D2C fulfilment. Having a dual-purpose configuration allowed the business to maintain efficient B2B operations while accommodating the growing volume of DTC orders.

• Shopify store: An ecommerce team was formed to build a dedicated Shopify storefront, giving the brand complete control over the customer experience. This allowed the team to showcase their full product range, tell their brand story effectively, and capture higher margins than marketplace sales. The site was launched with a focused catalogue to avoid overwhelming logistics on day one, with native Shopify features handling payments, tax, and order tracking seamlessly.

• Targeted marketing: Paid search and social ads were tested with modest daily budgets. The results included increased repeat‑purchase rates and average order value (AOV), confirming the long‑term potential of a consumer audience.

The ripple effects of this DTC success quickly appeared for the brand’s B2B operation: existing stockists raised forecasts, new retailers made inbound enquiries and payment terms improved.

Why DTC strengthens wholesale

Adding a DTC channel isn’t about competing with your retail partners, but rather creating a complementary ecosystem that strengthens your entire business model. When established B2B businesses embrace DTC, they unlock multiple advantages that actually accelerate their wholesale growth rather than cannibalise it.

Products sold directly capture retail margin that would otherwise be lost on discounted or expired inventory.

As your online visibility grows, consumer awareness drives faster sell-through at retail locations while making new wholesale accounts easier to secure. Your brand becomes one that retailers actively seek, rather than one you must push.

You’ll gain immediate access to critical data like order patterns and customer feedback, enabling faster product development and more accurate forecasting. Additionally, the steady stream of direct sales reduces dependence on seasonal wholesale peaks and provides a buffer against delayed retail payments, improving overall financial stability.

How to integrate DTC selling into your B2B business

For the remainder of this article we’ll share some practical steps you can take to leverage a DTC channel for your B2B brand.

1. Validate demand

This initial phase is about validation without significant investment, and the best way to do that is through third-party marketplaces.

Implementing a tool such as Linnworks makes this a streamlined process – enabling multichannel sales and inventory synchronisation across your choice of marketplaces. Automated inventory syn is vital here to maintain accuracy across channels and prevent any frustration or reputation damage that can come from overselling.

At this stage, focus on tracking meaningful metrics that indicate success. Monitor sell-through rates, advertising cost of sales (ACOS), return rates, and review velocity.

Positive trends across these indicators signal that your DTC channel has potential for growth.

Ensure you maintain compliance with marketplace rules to protect your selling privileges. Consistently achieve on-time-in-full shipping above 95% to maintain listing health and customer satisfaction. This operational discipline will serve you well as you expand your DTC presence.

When the data demonstrates steady demand, and your team is comfortable fulfilling direct orders, you’ll be ready to build your DTC store.

2. Build structure for sustainable growth

Customer experience

DTC consumers have different expectations to wholesale buyers. They expect prompt responses to queries, transparent return policies, and reliable delivery estimates. Consequently, creating a comprehensive customer service structure is an important step to complete before your traffic scales significantly.

A tool like Gorgias can support this process, making AI-enabled customer service a streamlined part of your tech stack.

To keep track of progress, we recommend developing some KPIs. For example, a simple response time matrix for different communication channels (emails within 12 hours, social messages within 4 hours) can help keep your team aligned and customers satisfied.

Branded storefront

Launch your own ecommerce store with a carefully curated catalogue.

As a Shopify Platinum Partner, we champion Shopify as the most compelling solution for this transition. It’s a user-friendly platform that doesn’t compromise on technical ability or scalability for brands, from B2B stores to enterprise solutions.

When creating this store, start with your best-selling products to avoid overwhelming your logistics operation on day one. Utilise native platform features for payments, tax calculations, and order tracking to minimise development complexity.

As your volume grows, you can then expand into international markets with localised currency, language, and tax compliance – all thanks to Shopify International.

People and process

Even a lean DTC operation requires clearly defined roles and responsibilities. Most brands begin with a shared resource model where team members split their time between B2B and DTC functions. Customer service representatives rotate between channels, marketing staff divide their hours, and fulfilment teams integrate DTC picking into existing workflows.

Develop standard operating procedures for all aspects of your DTC business, from picking and packing to customer communication, to ensure consistency and prevent errors as your order volume increases.

3. Integrate systems for seamless operations

Integrating an ecommerce platform with existing finance, planning, and warehouse systems eliminates manual processes and improves accuracy across your business.

This can be achieved by an iPaaS tool like Patchworks, and is crucial for maintaining efficiency when operating across both B2B and DTC channels simultaneously.

In the example shared above, mapping and exporting data from the ERP was a critical first step.

This allows orders to flow smoothly and can then be expanded to include product catalogue and pricing information. This ensures that updates happen once in your master system and propagate automatically to all sales channels, maintaining consistency and reducing administrative overhead.

The combined data from your ecommerce platform and ERP can be leveraged to monitor critical business metrics. Track gross margin, cash conversion cycles, and stock turn rates to identify opportunities for optimisation and growth across both your B2B and DTC channels.

4. Scale while maintaining channel harmony

As your DTC channel grows, new challenges will emerge around pricing, promotions, and fulfilment complexity. Implementing thoughtful guardrails will keep your channels aligned and complementary rather than competitive.

Here are some examples:

• Develop a transparent pricing policy that respects your wholesale partners. This builds trust with your B2B customers and prevents channel conflict.

• Create assortment differentiation between your DTC and wholesale offerings. Consider online-exclusive bundles or limited product runs that avoid direct comparison with your retail lines. This strategy provides unique value to your direct customers while preserving the appeal of your wholesale assortment.

• Increase digital advertising in regions with strong stockist coverage to boost in-store sales, and launch campaigns in new territories before trade shows to warm up potential wholesale accounts.

• Share valuable insights with your key retail partners. Provide anonymised consumer data, including popular search terms and emerging trend information, to position your brand as a collaborative partner rather than a competitor.

Need support with your B2B to DTC journey?

A well‑planned DTC channel can add value to your B2B business. It clears excess stock, supplies real‑time insight and creates consumer‑led demand that supports every retail partner.

The path is practical, measurable and, above all, achievable for brands ready to take the first step.

If you need support at any point in this journey, feel free to get in touch with our team.