Part
01
of one
Part
01
Software Companies that shifted from (or added) B2B2C to D2C sales
Key Takeaways
- SaaS — or direct sales to clients — is fast becoming the primary method of selling software.
- Of the 75 top SaaS companies as listed by Datamation, ~ 90 % have developed their products directly as a SaaS solution.
- Of the six companies identified, only one was founded after the year 2000.
- Microsoft, Adobe, and Intuit, all companies that used to sell their software through resellers and office supply stores, now market and sell directly to consumers. All expanded their offerings and bundled discrete applications together.
Introduction
Six major software companies have been identified as organizations that shifted their business model from using resellers to selling direct to customers. For each company, this spreadsheet summarizes the time they have been in business, the products they are now selling, and, where available, the approximate time when they shifted their business model. Some ranges are estimates based on news articles from web archive sites. The sources for all data on the sheet are listed in the final column.
Software Transitions to D2C
- There are many reasons to move to SaaS, including rapid deployment, reduced support, improved flexibility, and lower costs.
- Making software available directly to the consumer for download and the ability to offer free trials resulted in more exposure to potential clients, at little to no cost to the company. It is unknown if it boosted sales or cut production costs.
- Both of these reasons were the drivers for the six companies listed on the spreadsheet to change their business model.
Research Methodology
For this research on software companies that have moved from B2B2C to a direct D2C model, we leveraged the most reputable sources of information that were available in the public domain, including lists of top 75 sellers that sell directly to the consumer, histories of each company from their website, sec filings, and announcements and press releases from the time they made the switch.