Ecommerce Accelerator vs. Aggregator

Akta Bavalia

December 1, 2022

ecommerce accelerator vs aggregator

You may be a big brand or an emerging challenger looking to grow on Amazon and other marketplaces. Your goals seem simple: to grow your profits and stay in brand control. You know you need help, but who do you turn to? An aggregator or an ecommerce accelerator? Like most executives you ask, “What is the difference?”

As an ecommerce accelerator, Pattern helps brands stay in control and maximise profitability worldwide. We are acutely familiar with the confusion (aggregator vs accelerator) and will break down the differences so you can understand why an ecommerce accelerator, like Pattern, is the right partner for your brand to maximise its potential on global marketplaces.

The Simple Difference: Purchase vs Partner

Aggregators are typically purchase-focused. They will buy and scale third-party brands on marketplaces. Their strategy is to acquire brands that fit their strategic vision and then grow them through operation.

In ecommerce, aggregators tend to be relatively new companies that invest in Amazon-focused brands and then apply a wide range of strategies to grow them. Strategies like technology, economies of scale with other brands, and tapping into historical data on Amazon from their portfolio of brands.

Rather than purchasing brands, ecommerce accelerators partner with brands to apply data-driven technology and expertise to increase revenue growth for that brand across major online commerce channels, including D2C sites, ecommerce marketplaces such as Amazon, Tmall, JD.com, noon, Zalando, and beyond.

Accelerators can help their brand partners bridge the gap between one-off metrics and the lifetime value of a customer, which is a much more accurate indicator of the long-term growth and success of a brand. This collaboration and communication typically enables the brands to become much more strategic about both short-term investments and longer-term product development.

Pattern, an ecommerce accelerator, works with brands to accelerate sales by buying the brand’s inventory, using proprietary technology to maintain brand control on marketplaces, and accelerate growth (traffic, conversion). Pattern uses data insights and expertise to figure out where the gaps are in sales, optimising the brand across marketplaces, and identifying insights for boosting margins.

They Can Co-exist

Accelerators and aggregators are not direct competitors. Remember, aggregators buy brands, whereas accelerators buy stock in the inventory, so aggregators may hire an accelerator to move product.

But, even together, accelerators do the heavy lifting. Brand aggregators may get the press, but ecommerce accelerators often do the hard work of helping brands grow on Amazon and beyond. Accelerators bring the data and operational know-how to identify and capitalise on opportunities and the experience to help overcome common difficulties.

As a result, brand aggregators and accelerators are not competitors but different approaches to the same goal: sustained growth for brands. And with all the aggregation that has already occurred, acceleration with a partner like Pattern will be the mandate for future proofing your brand.

Which Will Bring Your Brand Success?

Most aggregators are good at sizing up an acquisition but may lack the total experience needed to operate a business on Amazon and other marketplaces. Aggregators need to become accelerators if they are going to continue to survive. It’s not enough to acquire brands, you have to grow them.

Pattern is an ecommerce accelerator that helps brands succeed on marketplaces like Amazon, TMall, JD.com, Zalando, and more. As a partner who has stock in your inventory, Pattern applies its proprietary technology and data-driven insights to help brands stay in control and get a piece of the $6 trillion global ecommerce market.

Are you ready to accelerate? Contact Us Today.

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