The popularity of mobile applications is increasing, as is the number of businesses seeking to grow their mobile presence. There are several ways to tap into this trend: as a business that needs a white label app, a software development vendor, or an advertiser. However, in our opinion, the fastest and easiest way to capitalize fully on the popularity of mobile devices is to build and sell white label apps.
But what is a white label app? And how can you build one so it increases your bottom line? In this guide, we will explain the essence and benefits of white label application development in 2024, overview the possible challenges, and provide white label app architecture examples.
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So, how to define white label software? White labeling is when a product manufactured by Company A is sold to the end customer under the brand of Company B. For instance, Walmart purchases ready-made products from third-party manufacturers and sells them under Walmart’s brand.
In fact, the concept of white labeling can be applied to any industry, and mobile app development is no exception. Let’s look at an example:
The partnership based on a white label mobile app that we described above enables restaurants to get a fully supported solution fast, with minimal investments. But how did the provider (Company A) benefit from selling the app? Let’s find out.
There’s a lot of confusion out there about what a white label mobile app is and how it differs from a custom mobile app. To understand the difference, let’s start with what both have in common – they’re both built for your business and your audience.
Both white label and custom apps are built to make life easier for your customers. They allow them to easily find information about your business, learn more about the products or services you offer, place orders, and solve problems. Now let’s talk about what sets them apart.
The main difference between white label mobile apps and custom mobile apps is that a white label mobile app is designed to be branded and customized, while a custom app is designed only for your company.
White label apps are built in such a way that they can be easily branded and customized, allowing you to change colors, logos, and other elements to make them look unique to your brand. Custom apps are built specifically for your company’s needs, so there’s no way for you to brand them or change their appearance without making major changes to the code itself.
If you enter “how to become a white label app reseller” into a browser’s search bar, you’ll find numerous offerings, which proves that white label partnership is extremely popular these days. And it isn’t surprising since becoming a white label app provider has a lot of benefits:
Still, it isn’t all roses—there are also a few cons of white label app development. The main trick is that white labeling usually implies that the buyer doesn’t have access to the backend of the application. This means little to no flexibility in terms of customization and scalability, to say nothing about the lack of control over security.
So, it’s no wonder that once the buyer is able to afford custom web development, the risk increases that they switch out of white labeling.
Luckily, you can minimize the risk of losing your partners. When building a white label application, you need to know how to adapt to the current and future business requirements of potential buyers. And a seasoned software development outsoucing provider, like Relevant, will help you with this.
Buying a white label app can be a go-to option for businesses that need an application with a standard set of features. Typically, these are small or medium companies that belong to the next industries:
These white label app examples only scratch the surface. Banks, ridesharing providers, fitness studios, beauty salons, florists, dry cleaners, mechanics, and many other businesses tend to buy pre-built solutions such as white label applications or use app builders.
This doesn’t mean, however, that their applications necessarily stand out in terms of performance, security, and usability or actually cater perfectly to their needs. And this is the key to setting your white label apps apart from the competition – just add some novelty and enhance the security to make your app sell better.
White label apps are an excellent way to promote your brand and provide users with a familiar experience. However, there are some things you need to know about white label apps before you customize them.
White label apps allow you to customize the look and feel of your app so that it looks like it is part of your company’s brand. You can do it by adding logos and colors, changing icons and buttons, and making sure everything matches up with your other marketing materials. Beyond these aesthetic changes, it’s important to consider the user interface and user experience (UI/UX). This involves tailoring the layout, navigation, and interactive elements to align with your brand values and the preferences of your target audience, ensuring an intuitive and engaging experience.
Additionally, white label applications can be repeatedly customized to match the brand identity of multiple different companies, meaning that with them, an app reseller can create a current stream of income. This flexibility in customization extends to features and functionalities. Depending on your audience and business needs, you can add unique features, integrate with existing systems, or streamline the app by removing unnecessary components.
Moreover, for businesses targeting a global market, localization and cultural adaptation are key. This includes translating the app into different languages and adapting content to meet local cultures and regulations. Also, in industries dealing with sensitive data, like finance or healthcare, ensuring enhanced security features and compliance with legal standards, such as GDPR or HIPAA, is crucial.
Lastly, performance optimization is a significant aspect of customization. It’s essential to ensure that the app is optimized for various devices and operating systems, focusing on responsiveness, load times, and efficient resource usage.
After you’ve decided to build a white label application, the next question is: how can you make it available to your partners? Well, there are two main approaches:
In addition, there is a B2B and B2C white labeling classification. For example, when a restaurant rebrands a food ordering app and then offers it to its guests, it’s B2C white-labeling. At the same time, when a digital marketing provider rebrands a white-label CRM app and resells it to other businesses, it’s B2B white labeling.
Some businesses dedicate all their time and resources to providing white label web applications (or their mobile counterparts) to other companies. Still, this isn’t the only way to take advantage of this business model.
You can also develop an application for your particular needs and then white label it for other companies. But how can you build a solution that is white label and branded at the same time? Let’s take one of our projects as an example.
Not long ago, we helped our UK-based client build FirstHomeCoach (FHC), a mobile solution for property buyers. The app consists of several modules, such as:
Our experts built the entire solution from the ground up. We took care of everything from selecting a tech stack to implementation while paying particular attention to securing user-sensitive data.
Later, the client approached us again with the request to make some of the modules accessible to their partners in a white label format. As a result, we added the next capabilities to FHC:
Though both the client and their partners are already using the platform, we keep working on it. Our current task is to launch Light Hub Application, which will allow partners to manage content on their white label solutions on their own. For the time being, all content management is performed by the client’s team.
To ensure the flawless work of the app, regardless of which modules are on and how many people access them, we decided to use React, go for a monolithic frontend, and implement lazy loading. This means that each partner can include or exclude modules based on their affiliate configurations without affecting performance.
At the same time, our backend has the microservices architecture: we divided its code into separate services, including User, Content, Configuration, etc. With microservices, various system components are less dependent on each other in contrast to the monolithic architecture. This makes the process of building and deploying code faster and more secure.
When all services are isolated, you can securely set user permissions and privileges while developing each module independently (which allows for working on multiple modules simultaneously).
Additionally, since FirstHomeCoach is a multi-component platform with complex workflows, we used a mono repository, which allowed us to:
The FirstHomeCoach project has demonstrated that white labeling is not all about basic, generic applications. The platform serves a double purpose. On the one hand, it keeps on guiding users through the complex process of property buying. On the other hand, we manage to adapt it to the business case of every client’s partner.
The process of choosing a white label development company is very similar to how you hire a software development team to outsource any other project type. It’s critical to consider the vendor’s experience, expertise, pricing, communication style, testimonials, cultural fit, or whatever your outsourcing strategy requires. Still, there’s one difference: your potential partner should have proven experience building whitesolutions in your niche. So, make sure that they:
Looking at the examples of white label apps they have designed previously will help you answer these questions. It’s also recommended to ask their previous clients for testimonials and look at how their projects perform now.
White labeling appears to be a fail-proof strategy to enter the app market. And it is, but with the wrong product development approach, there’s a big risk of quickly losing your whitepartners. The main problem is that most white label solutions have a number of limitations, including the lack of customization and scalability.
Still, you can take white labeling to the next level by building unique, flexible, and secure apps with a reliable white label software development vendor — the success of FirstHomeCoach proves this point.
So, if you are interested in selling solutions that will help your white-label partners grow, we are here to help you with our whiteweb development services. Just reach out to our white label studio by filling out a short contact form.
A white label mobile application is a solution built by Company A and then offered to the end customer under the brand of Company B. For example, you can develop a food delivery app and then sell and rebrand it for a few restaurants. As a result, the restaurants receive a fully supported solution while you have a source of recurring income.
Buying a white label solution can be a go-to option for businesses that need an application with a standard set of features. Banks, ride-sharing providers, fitness studios, beauty salons, florists, dry cleaners, mechanics, and many other businesses tend to buy pre-built solutions, like white-label applications or app builders.
In fact, you can white label everything from apps and content to services and hardware products. Besides, you should distinguish between B2B and B2C white labeling. For example, when a restaurant rebrands a food ordering app and then offers it to its guests, it’s B2C white-labeling. At the same time, when a digital marketing provider rebrands a white label CRM app and resells it to other businesses, it’s B2B white labeling.
There are three ways to enter the white label app development market:
– Hiring in-house developers.
– Using a white-label app builder.
– Partnering with a reliable white-label development vendor.
While hiring in-house can be too expensive, solutions built with white label app builders are usually too generic. Meanwhile, the third option will help you avoid these disadvantages while allowing you to build unique, high-quality, and customizable products at a reasonable cost.
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