DTC launch validation, Industrial / consumer durables, Enterprise

A new DTC channel for a B2B industrial leader.

Daikin came to us with a working product line and a strategic question: would consumers buy direct? We validated demand, designed the conversion funnel, and stood up the ecommerce mechanics for a new direct-to-consumer channel without disrupting the parent's industrial business.

Daikin air-systems product concept, validated through Prota Studios demand-testing for the Fortune-500 HVAC manufacturer

Engagement

DTC ecommerce validation and launch

Industry

Industrial / consumer durables (HVAC, air purification)

Company size

Enterprise (Fortune-500)

Services

Demand testing, conversion funnel design, content, analytics, paid acquisition

The challenge.

Daikin is a global industrial leader in HVAC and air purification, with most of its volume in B2B channels (contractors, distributors, commercial). The strategic question was whether a direct-to-consumer ecommerce motion could work for a category that consumers don't typically self-serve. The risk was twofold: a bad consumer experience could leak into the brand, and the wrong channel mix could cannibalize existing distributor relationships. The work needed to validate consumer willingness-to-buy without spending on inventory until the demand signal was clear.

The solution.

DTC demand validation

Demand testing the DTC value proposition before committing to a fully built channel. Multiple landing-page variants, multiple value-prop angles, paid traffic into a structured form-capture mechanism.

Conversion funnel + ecommerce stand-up

Conversion funnel design tuned for the air-purification consumer journey, with educational content built into the path-to-purchase. Analytics instrumentation that separated DTC signal from cross-channel noise.

Results.

What this engagement says about B2B-to-DTC validation.

The DTC question for an industrial brand is rarely "can we sell online", it's "what consumer journey makes the existing product feel native to ecommerce." The validation work surfaces the journey before the inventory commits.

Considering a DTC channel?

Tell us what category you operate in, what your existing distribution looks like, and what consumer signal you would need to commit to a launch. We will tell you what an eight-to-twelve-week validation would surface.

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