Direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands

Brands that sell straight to their customers online, with no shop or marketplace in between

Think of your first month in a new flat in Bengaluru. Your new glasses were ordered on an app. Milk arrives at the door every morning, paid for by a monthly subscription. The mattress came rolled up in a box, and the sofa is rented.

Many of these things came from a direct-to-consumer brand, often called a D2C brand. A D2C brand sells through its own website and app, not through a shop or a marketplace. Examples include:

the mattress in a box
the skincare line
jewellery and eyeglasses bought online
milk and meat delivered each morning

A D2C brand owns its customer and its data. It knows who bought what and when, because no shop or marketplace stands in between. To do this, it spends heavily on marketing and on software. (More on the software for running an online store in Market Segment 27.1, E-commerce storefront, checkout and search tools, in Industry Vertical 27, Retail tech.) Many D2C brands also sell on the big marketplaces. (More on them in Market Segment 26.1, Online marketplaces.)

Three routes from a brand to you: through a shop, through a marketplace, or directly through its own website and app. Only the direct route lets the brand know who bought what, and when.

India has a large crop of these brands, and several foreign brands build their technology here.

Every company named here has posted software engineering jobs in India. Famous companies that don't actively hire software engineers in India are left out.

This Market Segment has two sub-segments. The first covers foreign brands, built partly in India. The second covers India's own direct brands.

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Built in India, sold abroad
India's direct brands

Built in India, sold abroad

Licensed sports merchandise, clothing and home goods sold direct, mattresses, Ayurvedic skincare for buyers abroad, and fashion sold online in the Gulf

The first brands in this Market Segment sell to customers abroad, but build their software in India.

Fanatics

with engineers in Hyderabad, has the most job postings in this Market Segment. It sells the licensed jerseys and merchandise of American sports leagues and teams, and it runs their online stores, from a large Hyderabad centre. Licensed means the leagues and teams have given it permission to use their names and logos.

Quince

with engineers in Bengaluru, sells cashmere, linen and home goods at low prices, directly from the factories. It builds its technology in Bengaluru.

Puffy

with engineers in Bengaluru, sells mattresses in a box in America.

Transformative Ventures

with engineers in Delhi, sells Ayurvedic skincare and wellness brands to buyers abroad.

Styli

with engineers in Bengaluru, is a fashion and beauty brand that sells online in the Gulf.

India's direct brands

Beauty, fashion, jewellery, eyewear, nutrition, fresh food and milk by subscription, and rented furniture and water purifiers

Back to the new flat in Bengaluru from the start of this Market Segment. Most of what arrived there could have come from one of these brands.

Fresh food and milk at the door

Licious

with engineers in Bengaluru, sells fresh meat and fish through its own app. Its own software runs the cold chain, which keeps the food cold from the source to the door, and the delivery. (More on the cold chain of fresh food in Market Segment 28.1, Food and grocery delivery apps, in Industry Vertical 28, Foodtech and quick commerce.)

Country Delight

with engineers in Delhi, delivers milk and fresh food by subscription every morning.

Beauty

Purplle.com

with engineers in Mumbai and Pune, and Nykaa, with engineers in Delhi and Bengaluru, both sell beauty products online. They sell their own brands beside other companies' brands.

Avnzor

with engineers in Bengaluru, sells health and beauty products online, with tools for partner shops.

Jewellery

CaratLane

part of the Tata Group, with engineers in Chennai, sells fine jewellery online and in stores.

GIVA and Palmonas

sell silver and demi-fine jewellery. Palmonas has engineers in Pune. Demi-fine jewellery sits between cheap fashion jewellery and expensive fine jewellery.

Eyewear

Lenskart.com

with engineers in Bengaluru, sells eyewear through its app and its stores, and makes its own glasses.

Nutrition

HealthKart

with engineers in Delhi, and Kapiva, with engineers in Bengaluru, sell supplements and Ayurvedic nutrition.

Fashion

TMRW House of Brands and Sotbella

sell fashion brands online.

Renting for the home

Furlenco

rents and sells furniture, like the sofa in the new flat.

DrinkPrime

rents water purifiers by subscription. Its purifiers are connected to the internet.

What arrives at a new flat in Bengaluru, and the Indian direct brands that send it: fresh food and milk, beauty, jewellery, eyewear, nutrition, fashion and rented furniture and water purifiers.

One company covered mainly in another Market Segment

Chai Point

with engineers in Bengaluru, appears here for its packaged teas and for brewing tea in workplaces. It is covered mainly in Market Segment 28.4, Tech-led restaurant and cafe chains (in Industry Vertical 28, Foodtech and quick commerce).

The brand that knows each customer.

A direct brand's advantage is its data: what each customer bought, when they will need it again, and what they will like next. AI models turn that data into the next order, a web page personalised for each customer, and a message sent at the right time. Many of India's direct brands are now opening physical stores, and they are using this data to make the store feel like the app.

The brand that knows each customer: what each customer bought feeds AI models, which produce the next order, a page made for each customer and a message sent at the right time, and every order adds to the data.

That is the direct brand: it sells through its own app, knows each customer, and delivers everything from the morning milk to the rented sofa.

Who they hire

Who these companies hire, and for what, is on What e-commerce and D2C brands companies hire for.

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