From TechCrunch:
In what amounts to one of the purest and most interesting experiments in assessing value of Mac OS’s App Store the founder of Rogue Amoeba posted a description of what happened when he pulled his app Piezo. The result? More revenue as a whole without much damage to sales.
The impetus for the move came Apple pulled the Dash app off of the App Store. In the 100 day period since the move, Dash maintained and even increased revenue and found that its users didn’t care which platform they were using – 84% of the customers simply moved over to the independent app license from the App Store license. The bottom line? “It feels great to have full control over my business and to avoid App Store installation/updating/purchasing issues,” wrote Dash creator Bogdan Popescu.
. . . .
“It appears that nearly everyone who would have purchased Piezo via the Mac App Store opted to purchase directly once that was the only option,” he said. “Far from the Mac App Store helping drive sales to us, it appears we had instead been driving sales away from our own site, and into the Mac App Store.”
. . . .
App Stores in general are a “good idea.” But having more than one sales channel is also massively important. Last summer I talked about something called the Ripple Rug and how this odd little product – basically a rug for cats – was facing arbitrage problems from drop shippers who were hiking up the price of the rug and simply buying it on Amazon and shipping it forward. Then the drop shippers would pass the cost of returns on to the Ripple Rug, thereby making cash when the sold the rugs and when customers complained. The result? The creators of the rug pulled it from the Amazon briefly but recently brought it back for more than they sell it on their site. To do this the Ripple Rug folks are selling updated version of the rug on the site and a different version on the Amazon store because Amazon does not allow you to sell directly for less than it appears on Amazon.
“I have to run two production lines just to sell on Amazon,” said Fred Ruckel, creator of the rug.
Why? It makes perfect sense. If you want access to the Ripple Rug – or anything, really – you can get it through the “quick and easy” Amazon store or you can go directly to the seller and get it cheaper. And most people wanted to get it on Amazon.
. . . .
“It’s a double-edge sword,” he said. “You have to be on Amazon. Sixty-percent of shopping starts on Amazon. They typically associate Amazon with free shipping and great prices and you have to be on Amazon to be seen now.”
But you can fight back. In fact, Ruckel’s seems like a great strategy: charge more on the App Store as a convenience fee to those too lazy to click around a little to find it cheaper.
Link to the rest at TechCrunch and thanks to Tim for the tip.
> for more than they sell it on their site
That’s common for many manufacturers, particularly ones who sell on eBay as well as their own sites.
I figured they’re just adding the Amazon or eBay listing fees to their base price.
we sell a higher priced ebook on amz and elsewhere, and sell identical product with additions NOT offered in the ebook on amazon, on our own. Ours is higher priced or lower than the amazon edition [which has 50 less pages, this is non fiction] depending on our sales
I loathe the apple app store; has little description of apps, have to click all over to get to actual app website and feedbacks. The customerservice at appleapps however has always been helpful
And I just found something new to try. Maybe it will keep Athena T. Cat from tearing up the bedspread.
PG, between this and the book videos, you’re costing me money. 🙂 (Red 2.0 LOVES “Who Saw the Cat” and “Painting Pepet.”)
Selling directly has its pros and cons.
A few of the cons are:
-you’re responsible for customer service
-you’re responsible for charging the correct amount and keeping CC data safe
-You’re responsible for collecting and remitting taxes. I’m not even going to mention VAT. (This is the ultimate headache for me and the main reason why I don’t sell direct.)
eCommerce services will do some of this for you.
karen, what are ecommerce services? Are they like dropshippers too?
Sell your books directly from your website using Gumroad, Shopify, or any of a variety of services. All of them take various methods of payment, and I believe many take charge of foreign tax reporting.
thanks Karen for your reply… I dont know about most everything ‘modrin’ … but am trying to learn. You helped.
“– you can get it through the “quick and easy” Amazon store or you can go directly to the seller and get it cheaper. And most people wanted to get it on Amazon.”
Which can’t be done with ebooks, as Amazon will price-match when they find it.
It’s a nice idea ‘if’ you’re already well known and have a following, just starting out and need that discoverablity? Not so much.
App stores are a recent devolution for computers.
The entire industry was built on open access and it propered that way for 40 years.
Me, any (non-gaming) platform that doesn’t let me sideload applications or backup my data doesn’t get my business but otherwise I’ll vote my wallet against lockdowns.
I grudgingly accept lockdowns in gaming systems as necessary to avoid cheating in online gaming.