- A.Direct-to-consumer websites, marketplaces (Amazon, eBay), social commerce, and mobile commerce — each with different economics and customer dynamics.
- B.Multichannel uses many channels independently; omnichannel integrates them into one customer experience.
- C.Bypassing traditional retail intermediaries to sell directly to end customers — captures more margin and customer relationship at the cost of acquisition responsibility. ✓
- D.Bypassing traditional retail intermediaries to sell directly to end customers — captures more margin and customer relationship at the cost of acquisition responsibility.
Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) is bypassing traditional retail intermediaries to sell directly to end customers — captures more margin and customer relationship at the cost of acquisition responsibility. The other options describe related but distinct concepts in Distribution & Place — see the deep-dive guide for the full distinction.
How to think about questions like this
Captures retailer margin, customer data, and direct relationship. Questions like this test whether you can distinguish Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) from neighboring concepts. The most common trap is choosing a closely-related concept that sounds similar but applies in a different context.
When you see a definition question on an exam, do two things: (1) translate the question into your own words, then (2) generate the answer in your own words before reading the options. This avoids the cognitive bias of recognizing a familiar phrase as correct just because it is familiar.