What is the full form of D2C, and is DTC the same?

D2C stands for direct to consumer. DTC is the same thing written differently, and both are used in India. It describes a brand that sells its own products straight to the people who use them, usually through its own website or app, rather than only through distributors, wholesalers or retail stores. The brand sets the price, owns the customer data and runs or contracts its own fulfilment.

What does D2C mean in business, with an example?

It means the brand, not a retailer, sells to the end customer. For example, a skincare brand that makes its own serums and sells them on its own Shopify store, packing and shipping each order from its warehouse, is running a D2C channel. If the same brand also sells to a distributor, that part of the business is B2B.

What is the difference between D2C, B2C and B2B?

B2C is any business selling to consumers, including retailers and marketplaces that sell other companies' products. D2C is a kind of B2C where the brand that makes the product sells it to the consumer itself. B2B is selling to another business, such as a distributor, a retail chain or a quick-commerce platform buying on purchase orders.

Is selling on Amazon or Flipkart D2C?

Not strictly. On a marketplace the brand still sells under its own name, but the marketplace runs the checkout, the customer account and often delivery, so the brand doesn't fully own the relationship or the data. Most people call it marketplace selling. Many Indian D2C brands run both, and treat the marketplaces as additional channels.

How does a D2C business model make money compared with selling through distributors?

A brand selling through distributors and retailers gives up a margin at each step but pays little for delivery or acquisition. Selling D2C keeps that margin, but the brand pays for marketing, payment gateway charges, shipping, packaging, returns and RTO itself. D2C is more profitable only when those costs per order stay below the margin it no longer gives away.

What does a D2C brand need to run its operations: website, inventory, warehouse and shipping?

It needs a storefront, a catalogue with one SKU per variant, a single stock number that every channel reads, a way to capture and allocate orders, a warehouse process for picking, packing and invoicing, courier accounts with labels and manifests, and a process for NDRs, RTOs and returns. Small brands start with spreadsheets and seller panels.

What are the common challenges of running a D2C brand, and why are COD and RTO so costly in India?

The usual ones are the cost of acquiring customers, keeping stock right across the website and marketplaces, dispatch speed, returns and cash flow. Cash on delivery adds to them. On its own website the brand carries the delivery risk, so a refused or undeliverable COD order comes back as an RTO, and the brand pays shipping both ways and repacking with no sale. In the example above, that removes ₹28 from every website order.

When does a D2C brand need an OMS or a WMS?

Usually when the same stock is sold on three or more channels, when orders are copied between seller panels by hand, or when picking errors and stock mismatches show up every week. An OMS brings orders and stock from every channel into one place; a WMS runs the warehouse floor. OMS vs WMS for D2C explains which to start with.

What is D2C (direct to consumer)?

D2C (direct to consumer) is a business model in which a brand sells its own products straight to the end buyer, usually through its own website or app, instead of only through distributors, wholesalers or retailers. The brand owns the customer relationship, sets the price and decides how each order is stored, packed and delivered.

D2C is also written DTC. In India, many brands described as D2C also sell on marketplaces such as Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, Meesho and Nykaa and supply quick-commerce platforms, so “D2C brand” often describes where a brand started, not its only channel.

How D2C works for an Indian consumer brand

D2C, B2C, B2B and marketplace selling compared

Model	Who sells to whom	Who owns the customer data
D2C	The brand sells to the end buyer on its own site or app	The brand
B2C	Any business sells to consumers; a D2C brand is one kind of B2C seller	The seller
B2B	A business sells to another business, such as a distributor, retailer or quick-commerce platform	The buyer’s business
Marketplace	The brand sells to the buyer through Amazon, Flipkart, Meesho and so on	Shared; the marketplace controls the checkout

Behind the storefront, a D2C brand runs the same chain as any retailer, one order at a time:

Catalogue and SKUs. Every product, size and colour gets its own SKU, mapped to each channel’s listing.
Stock across channels. The same units are offered on the website and on marketplaces, so every sale has to reduce the stock shown everywhere. Gaps here cause overselling.
Order processing. Orders are captured, checked (address, COD confirmation) and allocated to a warehouse.
Pick and pack. The warehouse picks and packs the items and prints the invoice and label.
Shipping. A courier is booked, the parcel gets an AWB and is handed over on a manifest.
Delivery exceptions. Failed deliveries come back as NDRs; unresolved ones become RTOs.
Returns. Customer returns are received, checked, and restocked or written off.

Example: one ₹1,000 order on the brand’s own website vs on a marketplace. All figures are illustrative; replace them with your own fee card, gateway rate and courier rates.

Cost line	Own website	Marketplace
Selling price	₹1,000	₹1,000
Marketplace commission and fees (illustrative 20%)	–	₹200
Payment gateway (illustrative 2%)	₹20	–
Paid acquisition per order (illustrative)	₹150	–
Forward shipping	₹60	₹60
Packaging	₹20	₹20
Contribution before product cost	₹750	₹720

The website looks ₹30 better per order. Now add RTO on the website’s cash-on-delivery orders. Suppose 1 order in 5 comes back. Each RTO costs ₹60 forward + ₹60 return + ₹20 repacking = ₹140, with no sale. Spread over 5 orders, that is ₹28 per order, so the website’s contribution falls to ₹722: almost level with the marketplace. The unit economics of D2C depend as much on delivery success as on fees.

Common mistakes

Treating D2C as “website only”. Most of the work is keeping stock, orders and shipping consistent across every channel the brand sells on.
Counting marketing cost but not delivery cost. RTO, returns and repacking belong in the cost per order.
One stock spreadsheet per channel. Stock drifts between channels and the same unit gets sold twice.
No single SKU code across channels. Each marketplace listing needs to map back to one internal SKU.
Scaling COD without confirming orders. Unconfirmed COD orders are a common source of refused parcels.

Contribution per order = selling price − channel fees − acquisition − shipping − packaging − RTO allowance. In the example: ₹722 on the website, ₹720 on the marketplace.
RTO rate = RTO shipments ÷ shipments dispatched. Example: 200 ÷ 1,000 = 20% (illustrative).
Channel mix = orders from one channel ÷ all orders, tracked monthly to see where growth comes from.

D2C in the Indian context

Marketplace fulfilment choices. A brand that also sells on Amazon.in chooses, product by product, between Fulfillment by Amazon (Amazon stores, packs and delivers), Easy Ship (the brand stores and packs; Amazon delivers) and Self-Ship (the brand stores, packs and delivers).
Cash on delivery. Amazon.in says Easy Ship “enables ‘Pay on Delivery’ (by cash or card)” for customers. On its own website, a D2C brand decides whether to offer COD and carries the RTO risk itself.
GST invoices. A website sale is invoiced under the same GST rules as any other supply. CBIC’s invoice rules list a tax invoice’s particulars, including the HSN code of the goods.
Quick commerce is B2B. Supplying a quick-commerce platform usually means fulfilling its purchase orders into its warehouses, not shipping to consumers. See quick commerce.

How Fretron CommerceOS fits a D2C brand

Fretron CommerceOS combines order management (OMS), warehouse management (WMS) and commerce shipping in one product. Amazon, Flipkart and Shopify run in production: orders are pulled in and inventory is published back automatically. See CommerceOS for D2C brands.

Questions and answers

What is the full form of D2C, and is DTC the same?: D2C stands for direct to consumer. DTC is the same thing written differently, and both are used in India. It describes a brand that sells its own products straight to the people who use them, usually through its own website or app, rather than only through distributors, wholesalers or retail stores. The brand sets the price, owns the customer data and runs or contracts its own fulfilment.
What does D2C mean in business, with an example?: It means the brand, not a retailer, sells to the end customer. For example, a skincare brand that makes its own serums and sells them on its own Shopify store, packing and shipping each order from its warehouse, is running a D2C channel. If the same brand also sells to a distributor, that part of the business is B2B.
What is the difference between D2C, B2C and B2B?: B2C is any business selling to consumers, including retailers and marketplaces that sell other companies' products. D2C is a kind of B2C where the brand that makes the product sells it to the consumer itself. B2B is selling to another business, such as a distributor, a retail chain or a quick-commerce platform buying on purchase orders.
Is selling on Amazon or Flipkart D2C?: Not strictly. On a marketplace the brand still sells under its own name, but the marketplace runs the checkout, the customer account and often delivery, so the brand doesn't fully own the relationship or the data. Most people call it marketplace selling. Many Indian D2C brands run both, and treat the marketplaces as additional channels.
How does a D2C business model make money compared with selling through distributors?: A brand selling through distributors and retailers gives up a margin at each step but pays little for delivery or acquisition. Selling D2C keeps that margin, but the brand pays for marketing, payment gateway charges, shipping, packaging, returns and RTO itself. D2C is more profitable only when those costs per order stay below the margin it no longer gives away.
What does a D2C brand need to run its operations: website, inventory, warehouse and shipping?: It needs a storefront, a catalogue with one SKU per variant, a single stock number that every channel reads, a way to capture and allocate orders, a warehouse process for picking, packing and invoicing, courier accounts with labels and manifests, and a process for NDRs, RTOs and returns. Small brands start with spreadsheets and seller panels.
What are the common challenges of running a D2C brand, and why are COD and RTO so costly in India?: The usual ones are the cost of acquiring customers, keeping stock right across the website and marketplaces, dispatch speed, returns and cash flow. Cash on delivery adds to them. On its own website the brand carries the delivery risk, so a refused or undeliverable COD order comes back as an RTO, and the brand pays shipping both ways and repacking with no sale. In the example above, that removes ₹28 from every website order.
When does a D2C brand need an OMS or a WMS?: Usually when the same stock is sold on three or more channels, when orders are copied between seller panels by hand, or when picking errors and stock mismatches show up every week. An OMS brings orders and stock from every channel into one place; a WMS runs the warehouse floor. OMS vs WMS for D2C explains which to start with.

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Next step: CommerceOS for D2C brands.

Last reviewed: 5 November 2026 by Fretron.

Sources

Sell. Pack. Ship.: fulfillment options for Amazon.in sellers (FBA, Easy Ship, Self-Ship). Amazon.in. https://sell.amazon.in/shipping-and-fulfillment (accessed 5 Nov 2026).
Invoice Rules: Tax Invoice (CGST Rules, 2017). CBIC. https://cbic-gst.gov.in/gst-invoice-rules.html (accessed 5 Nov 2026).