1. D2C: direct to consumer
How money comes in: you sell straight to the buyer, mostly on your own website and apps, and sometimes in shops.
How buyers find you: ads, search, social media, creators and word of mouth. You own the customer data.
What marketing does: it wins the buyer at a cost you can afford, and brings them back. Watch cost per order and repeat orders.
What goes wrong: paying too much for each new buyer, and having no reason for them to return.
An Indian example: Mamaearth, started in 2016 and, in Honasa Consumer's account, first made MadeSafe-certified baby products. It then moved into personal care for adults. Our D2C brands data also lists its own website and shops as channels. Watch the brand's own YouTube channel.
People and bodies: Varun Alagh and Ghazal Alagh co-founded Mamaearth in 2016, as EY's 2022 Entrepreneur of the Year finalist profile and YourStory tell it. Profiles say Varun had earlier worked at Hindustan Unilever, Diageo and Coca-Cola. The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), set up in 2004, speaks for digital commerce and digital advertising firms.
Read more: what is D2C, D2C vs business to consumer (B2C) and D2C brands in India.
2. Dealer-led B2B
How money comes in: you sell to distributors and dealers, who sell on to shops, contractors or companies.
How buyers find you: through the dealer's counter, the trade visit and the person who uses the product.
What marketing does: it makes the dealer want to stock you, and makes the user ask for you by name.
What goes wrong: only talking to buyers, so dealers push a rival; or only talking to dealers, so nobody asks for you.
An Indian example: Pidilite's Fevicol. CRISIL's 2021 rating note counts over 4,700 distributors servicing 200,000 dealers, retailers and contractors. Pidilite's 2018-19 annual report says its Fevicol Champions' Club engages more than 160,000 carpenters. Our reading: the person who uses the product matters as much as the shop that sells it.
People and bodies: Pidilite was started by the brothers Balvant Parekh and Sushil Parekh, and the Fevicol brand site says they took Fevicol to carpenters first, not to shops. On the creative side, Piyush Pandey of Ogilvy India said the agency has refreshed Fevicol's campaigns every year since 1989 (exchange4media).
Read more: B2B marketing and B2B marketing strategy.
3. Franchise
How money comes in: a franchisee runs an outlet under your brand, rules and supply chain, and you earn from the system.
How buyers find you: through the brand, the location and local marketing by each outlet.
What marketing does: it protects one look and promise across all outlets, and helps each one win its own area.
What goes wrong: outlets that look or behave differently, and local ads that break brand rules.
An Indian example: Jubilant FoodWorks and Domino's. In a filing of 1 April 2026, Jubilant FoodWorks reported a new master franchise agreement for India. Reports say it runs 15 years with an option to extend by 10, and gives exclusive rights to develop and operate Domino's stores in India. It also keeps the right to run its own supply chain.
People and bodies: The brothers Shyam S. Bhartia and Hari S. Bhartia of the Jubilant Bhartia Group brought Domino's to India in 1996, as their group's founder pages and press reports tell it. Kapil Grover (Chief Marketing Officer of Domino's, 2018) is one marketing head the group has announced; roles change. The National Restaurant Association of India (NRAI), founded in 1982, speaks for restaurant owners and chains.
4. Marketplace and quick commerce
How money comes in: you sell through an app or site that owns the customer, and you pay a share or a margin.
How buyers find you: inside the app: search, category pages, ads on the platform and reviews.
What marketing does: it wins the listing, then wins the shopper's choice with a clear pack, price and ratings.
What goes wrong: thin margins after the platform's cut, stock-outs, and not knowing who your buyer is.
An Indian example: Flipkart. Its Seller Hub says an account is created with a mobile number and OTP, and needs a GSTIN for most categories. It says creating an account is free, with a commission on each sale. For quick commerce, read how to sell on Blinkit, Zepto and Instamart. Blinkit's official YouTube channel shows how the app presents itself.
People and bodies: Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, who are not related, started Flipkart in Bengaluru in 2007. Albinder Dhindsa and Saurabh Kumar started Grofers in 2013, which became Blinkit in 2021. Aadit Palicha and Kaivalya Vohra started Zepto. On the marketing side, Pratik Shetty (Vice President and Head of Growth and Marketing, October 2026) spoke for the Big Billion Days 2026 campaign (Mediainfoline). IAMAI, named above, also speaks for online commerce.
Our quick commerce marketing service covers listings and ads.
5. Subscription
How money comes in: customers pay again and again for access: software, content, boxes or a service plan.
How buyers find you: free trials, search, referrals and comparison pages.
What marketing does: it wins the first sign-up, then shows value early so customers stay.
What goes wrong: many sign-ups but high drop-off, because nobody shows the customer why to stay.
An Indian example: Zoho. On its own about page, Zoho says it is privately held and has never taken money from investors. It says it sells products one by one or as suites and avoids multi-year contracts with fixed price rises. Its timeline marks 100 million or more users in 2023. We did not read its pricing page.
People and bodies: Sridhar Vembu and Tony Thomas started the company in 1996 as AdventNet, and it became Zoho Corporation in 2009. Accounts differ on how the early roles were split. NASSCOM, founded in 1988, is the trade body for India's software and services firms.
6. Export
How money comes in: you make in India and sell to buyers abroad, often big brands or importers.
How buyers find you: trade shows, introductions, buyer portals, certifications and proof of past work.
What marketing does: it builds trust with foreign buyers: a clear website, case proof, compliance papers and quick replies.
What goes wrong: competing on price alone, and missing the standards buyers expect.
An Indian example: Gokaldas Exports. Its website says garments are at the core of what it does, and lists 35 or more units, over 53,000 employees and exports to more than 50 countries. Its 2005-06 annual report said exports made up over 97% of that year's revenue.
People and bodies: Sources differ on its early years. A Stanford case study calls it a family-owned business, and another profile names Jhamandas H. Hinduja as its leader. Its board page now lists Mathew Cyriac as Chairman and Sivaramakrishnan Ganapathi as Vice Chairman and Managing Director. Two bodies help exporters. One is the Apparel Export Promotion Council (AEPC), under the Ministry of Textiles. The other is the Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO), set up in 1965.
7. Services
How money comes in: you sell expertise and time, or you book work through a platform that takes a share.
How buyers find you: referrals, reviews, search and your own proof of results.
What marketing does: it builds trust before the first call, and proves you deliver.
What goes wrong: looking the same as every rival, and having no proof to show.
An Indian example: Urban Company, which books home services through an app. Inc42 reported that commissions and fees were 28.3% of the average gross earnings of its service professionals in the first nine months of FY26. That is not the company's overall take rate.
People and bodies: Abhiraj Singh Bhal, Varun Khaitan and Raghav Chandra started it in 2014 as UrbanClap; it took the name Urban Company in January 2020 (Wikipedia and YourStory). We did not find one trade body that speaks for all services firms, so we name none.
Say a small accounting firm in Pune gets most clients by referral. Its marketing job is to make sure that a referred client who searches its name finds clear proof. This is a hypothetical case.
How to find your model
- Ask who pays you: the user, a dealer, a franchisee, a platform or a foreign buyer.
- Ask who decides: the user, or someone in between.
- Write the one marketing job from the table that your model needs most.
- Check if your marketing does that job. If not, fix that first.
If you want a second pair of eyes, our strategy team can map your model and the marketing job it needs.
