Most businesses in the 21st century have opted to virtualize their storefront presence. Major companies such as McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Starbucks all have popular loyalty apps on both the App Store and the Google Play Store. But what exactly are we comparing?
The two main marketplaces, Apple’s App Store and the Google Play Store, are both places for users to download applications. Most of these apps are a way to get customers into a loyalty program, which typically offers rewards or advantages for customers who consistently stick with a specific store, restaurant, or service provider. However, even though both online marketplaces offer similar apps, how do those apps and marketplaces compare against each other?
Within the restaurant industry, fast food restaurants such as Chick-fil-A and Wingstop lead the app store with extremely high ratings of 4.93 and 4.9 star ratings. However, the top choice of the App Store, Chick-fil-A, falls down to 4th place on the Google Play Store. Furthermore, the Wingstop app does not even place inside of the top 10. In their stead, the Domino’s and Dunkin’ app lead the Google Play Store with 4.75 and 4.72 stars respectively.
For the shopping industry, the trend continues. Major brands and marketplaces such as Etsy, Nike, and Amazon rank amongst the top 5 highest-rated apps on the App Store. Amongst these apps, no application received a rating below 4.8 stars, showing extreme predisposition for shopping applications specifically. As for the Google Play store, the top 5 is almost entirely different, with Etsy being the only consistent leader across both marketplaces. However, similar to the App Store, the top 5 applications all have ratings above 4.7 stars.
For travel applications, we again see variation between the two online stores. The unanimous leader is the Fly Delta application, from Delta Airlines. However, apps like Expedia, Southwest Airlines, and United Airlines all have varying spots amongst the top 10 depending on the specific marketplace. Furthermore, the range of ratings seems to vary as well. The top 10 applications on the App Store range from 4.9 stars to 4.6, whereas the Google Play Store has a range of 4.8 to 3.8 stars.
The differentiation between these two online stores help to provide valuable insight into consumer preferences, and how these preferences can differ. For example, although the applications are the same for both marketplaces, the users of the App Store and the Google Play Store have significantly different tastes. On average, it seems that Play Store users tend to review applications with fewer stars than App Store users. This trend can be further analyzed by the type of industry.
The largest differences can be found in the restaurant industry. Amongst the top 10 of both stores, the range is the widest, with the App Store having a star range of only 0.25 and the Play Store having a range of 2.8 stars. This includes apps receiving different ratings. For instance, the Taco Bell app receives 4.69 stars on the App Store yet only 2.69 on the Play Store. The restaurant app sector has 6 unique apps, which only appear in one of the top 10 lists.
The opposite is true for the travel industry, where this is much fewer app variation between the 2 stores. In addition, the star ratings are almost identical as well, with the Play Store being slightly lower. Furthermore, there are less unique applications, with 2 being unique to each store.
The shopping app sector has less star variation, but a much higher quantity of unique apps at 8. Due to the high quantity of shopping applications, numerous major brands such as Target, Sam’s Club, Costco, and CVS only appear in the top 10 list for a single marketplace.
Ultimately, these comparisons help to show the vast consumer preferences between the App Store and the Play Store. With these varying interests, keeping up with all these applications is impossible. Moreover, being able to help sort through all these applications to find deals specific to a person is a colossal task. In order to keep up with all the loyalty applications news and rewards, platforms such as Rewards That Matter are essential to get the most out of your loyalty programs.
