In Short
I'm Ivo Oppong-Addai, founder and CEO of Next Commerce GmbH (founded 2020, based in Weikersheim). I have more than 10 years of experience in e-commerce and digital marketing and one earlier startup in the same field. The Direct-to-Dealer model grew out of a concrete challenge I faced at Bosch Power Tools: brand manufacturers with an established dealer network who want to get closer to end customers without destroying their sales network.
Background
My career in digital sales began more than ten years ago. Through e-commerce and digital marketing I got to know the full range: D2C shops, marketplace strategies, classic indirect distribution, performance marketing, attribution, conversion optimization. One pattern ran through every stage: manufacturers with established dealer structures kept struggling with the same trilemma. They wanted to be close to end customers but feared channel conflict. They wanted data but had no way to get it. They wanted to sell direct without giving up their sales network.
Before I founded Next Commerce, I built another company in the same field. That experience shaped me: it showed me where the established solutions fail structurally and where the really hard problems are. Without those years of learning, Next Commerce would not exist.
How Direct-to-Dealer Began
The decisive push came during a project at Bosch Power Tools. Bosch is the archetypal DACH brand manufacturer: a strong brand, a long-grown dealer network, thousands of specialist dealers worldwide, and end customers who want to buy the product from a specialist dealer. At the same time, it had an online marketing machine that generated millions in reach every day, without a single measurable sale it could be tied to at the end.
None of the existing solutions fit. An own D2C shop would have angered the dealer network. A dealer locator map gave no attribution. Drop shipping shifted the risk back onto the brand. Selling on marketplaces gave away margin and weakened brand control.
That concrete gap became the Direct-to-Dealer model: the customer buys on the brand's website. The dealer delivers. The manufacturer keeps ownership of the data and the marketing attribution. The dealer gets prepaid orders without spending on ads. Nobody loses.
What began as a prototype at Bosch became the platform that is Next Commerce today. Dealer Checkout is the production-ready implementation of the model I developed in the early years together with partners from mid-sized DACH companies.
What I Write About
In the Next Commerce resources I write about the topics brand manufacturers with a dealer network have to face structurally. Three focus areas:
Strategy: Brand commerce as a discipline, the four models (D2C, D2D, marketplace, classic), channel conflict, strategy for mid-sized companies. I try to sort the field clearly and give decision guidance that works in practice.
Data & Attribution: Sell-in vs. sell-out, marketing attribution for brand manufacturers, customer data in indirect sales. Topics that were long discussed in theory but only became practical to address with the D2D model.
Practice & Implementation: What manufacturers experience day to day when they switch to D2D. What dealers experience when they get prepaid orders through manufacturer brands. What concretely changes in onboarding speed, marketing efficiency and revenue growth.
What You Can Discuss with Me
I make time for conversations with brand manufacturers and specialist dealers who are seriously considering the D2D model or want to improve an existing setup. Typical reasons to talk: you have your own D2C shop but see friction in your dealer network. You have a classic dealer locator that brings no measurable sales. You want to build customer lifetime value in an indirect sales model.
The fastest way to reach me is on LinkedIn (linkedin.com/in/iaddai) or through the contact form. If you'd like to see a 15-minute live demo of Dealer Checkout, the direct route through the product page is the fastest.