Building brands in a digital-first world: strategies and challenges for Indian D2C startups

Abstract

This study examines how Indian Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) startups build brand equity and foster customer engagement in a rapidly digitalizing economy. The research integrates four strategic antecedents digital marketing strategies, branding techniques, customer experience management, and TA and introduces strategic challenges as a moderating factor influencing brand performance. Grounded in Aaker’s and Keller’s brand-equity frameworks and supported by contingency theory, the model was empirically tested using data collected from 290 D2C startup founders and senior managers across diverse sectors in India. Exploratory factor analysis confirmed seven valid constructs, and multiple regression analyses revealed that digital marketing and customer experience practices significantly enhance brand equity, while TA strongly predicts customer engagement. Moderation analysis demonstrated that strategic challenges amplify the positive relationship between digital marketing and brand equity. Furthermore, brand equity exhibited a significant positive influence on customer engagement, confirming its central mediating role. The findings provide theoretical extension to classical brand-equity models within digital-first and resource-constrained environments. They also offer practical guidance for D2C entrepreneurs to leverage digital marketing, experiential design, and technology as synergistic tools for competitive advantage, even under operational and regulatory constraints.