We are in the golden age of aggregator apps. Every segment is being disrupted by one or more aggregators. The ecommerce world has Amazon as its primary aggregator. Uber is a cab booking aggregator while DoorDash and GrubHub are restaurant aggregators.
The aggregators may change from country-to-country, but the idea remains the same. Many businesses and professionals come on one aggregator platform to offer their services to a large audience. The rise of aggregator platforms has not exactly eroded the idea of standalone models. The continual rise of Shopify shows how standalone ecommerce websites are still a bankable prospect. Many small and large companies have used their own websites and apps to make sales. Thus, aggregator platforms aren’t exactly very monopolistic in the different segments they belong to. This naturally creates a divergence. Which path suits a business more? In this piece, we will discuss the pros and cons of choosing standalone and aggregator apps. What are standalone apps? Standalone apps simply refer to mobile apps which promote and sell products and services of the brand to which the app belongs. If you build a pharmacy app for your medical store and only sell medicine from your store alone, you effectively have a standalone app. Starting a standalone app simply means a company is using its own platform to promote its products and services. Advantages of standalone apps There are many benefits companies can enjoy by starting their own app. Some of them are covered in the following points- ● Direct contact with customers - A company is in direct contact with its customers on a standalone app. There is no middleman in the process which basically leads to more transparency. ● No revenue sharing - Any money a standalone app makes through sales goes directly to the company to which the app belongs. This is made possible by the lack of any middlemen in the process. ● Branding - Any product or service offered on a standalone app is provided by the company. This enables the company to grow its brand because every product or service sold belongs to one entity alone. Any growth in customer loyalty contributes directly to the brand ● Full control - Your standalone app belongs to you. You can set the rules and not depend on guidelines from anyone else. This independence provides a number of benefits such as control over app design, product prices, and various other tenets of an app. These advantages come with a set of responsibilities as well. If you control your app, you are the direct beneficiary when there is growth in the brand’s revenue and value. However, every failure is also directly attributed to your brand and company. Thus, the freedom of standalone apps has consequences. On this note, let’s cover some of the disadvantages of standalone apps. Drawbacks of choosing standalone apps Standalone apps come with a lot of advantages, but there are some associated drawbacks as well. The following points cover some of them- ● Smaller audience - Your company will have to build the user base of your standalone app from scratch. Even a brief prime on mobile app marketing will enable you to see the challenges of growing a user base from scratch. User acquisition for standalone apps requires a brand to set itself apart in the market. This takes a lot of time and a large investment. ● Development challenges - Building an app is not easy. App development is a tedious exercise and requires a lot of investment of time and capital. Both of these commodities are seldom found in droves. Using mobile app builders like AppMySite to create a WooCommerce or WordPress app is one way of getting around this drawback. ● Customer support - A standalone app has a direct connection to all its users. This advantage cuts both ways. A direct connection means that a company also has to placate disgruntled users when they run into problems. This can take a toll on the resources a company has. Aggregator apps We all use aggregator apps even if the term sounds familiar. Most social media platforms we use are essentially content aggregators. Ecommerce platforms like Amazon and eBay aggregate products. Uber and Lyft aggregate cabs while Netflix and Prime Video aggregate video content. Most popular apps are effectively aggregators. So what are aggregator apps? Any app which aggregates products, services, and content from different sources is called an aggregator. Aggregator apps rarely sell their own products or services. They rely on the companies, professionals, and general users on their platform to drive the app. You can sell your products and services on aggregator apps instead of starting your own app. There are both benefits and drawbacks to such a decision. They’re listed in the following sections Advantages of choosing aggregator apps The advantages of choosing aggregator apps are covered in the following points - ● Greater reach - Selling your products and services on an aggregator app basically ensures you get a wider reach. Would your products be seen by more people on Amazon compared to your standalone WooCommerce Android app? Aggregator platforms promise reach which can be directly correlated to sales and revenue growth ● Zero platform maintenance - The job of developing and maintaining the platform lies with the aggregator. Your company only needs to worry about its own products and services. ● Readymade customer support - Most aggregator platforms have their own established customer support models. At the very most, your company needs to work with the customer support team of an aggregator to resolve a customer query. There is no need to set up an entire customer support department from scratch. ● Credibility - When you start a new business, it can take time to build up credibility and trust. By listing on an aggregator platform to make sales, you can bank on the credibility of the platform. People using aggregator apps choose to trust the platform over the actual seller. This can prove beneficial in case you’re a small business and need to make a certain volume of sales. Drawbacks of using aggregator apps There are some natural drawbacks in choosing aggregator apps as well. Some of them are covered in the following points- ● No branding - Even if you make great sales and satisfy your customers on an aggregator platform, customers will only grow loyal to the aggregator. How many actual Amazon sellers can you remember by heart? Even years of service cannot guarantee any kind of improvement in branding. ● Revenue sharing - A company sellings its products and services on aggregator apps has to share a part of its earnings with the platform. Some companies can view this as the cost they have to pay in order to get greater reach. However, this reach is not coupled with any kind of branding incentive ● Guidelines - Aggregator platforms can have their own guidelines regarding prices, customer services, and various other operations. Thus, companies effectively lose control when they decide to sell with aggregator platforms. In conclusion There is no objective answer to making a choice between standalone and aggregator apps. Some companies care more about sales and little about branding. Working with aggregator apps thus makes more sense for them. Other companies may be interested in building their own brand. A standalone app makes more sense for them. Unless an aggregator platform requires companies to exclusively sell products with them, there is no need to choose. Companies can sell their products on both aggregator and standalone apps. The points in this piece should help readers study the advantages and drawbacks of both.
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January 2021
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