SINGAPORE, Oct. 12, 2023 - White-labelling is a common strategy employed across various industries to deliver products or services under one company's brand, while the underlying components or solutions are provided by a different entity. It's an approach that allows businesses to leverage specialized expertise, streamline operations, or expand their offerings more swiftly without the need to develop that competence in-house.

White-labels are used by a multitude of industries from retail, to fintech, healthcare or even F&B. Banks leverage fintech companies to develop and manage mobile banking apps, healthcare providers and clinics use white-label telemedicine platforms to offer virtual consultations under their own brand.

Brands turn to white-label solutions for various reasons, as well as allow them to focus on their core competencies. Four other key motivations include:

Cost Efficiency: White-label solutions often provide a cost-effective way for brands to offer products or services without the substantial upfront investments and ongoing operational costs associated with in-house development or production. By leveraging existing solutions, brands can save on research, development, and infrastructure expenses, making it an attractive option.

Built for Scale: White-label solutions are customizable to cater to the specific needs of different partners. This means that the platform can be optimized for various industries and markets providing a more tailored and efficient solution for each partner while enjoying all the optimization generated across the entire ecosystem.

Time-to-Market: Speed is crucial in today's competitive business landscape. White-label solutions allow brands to enter the market quickly, as they can bypass the lengthy development or production process, helping companies to gain competitive advantage.

Reduce Risk: By using established white-label products or services, brands can mitigate the risks associated with developing their own solutions from scratch. This includes risks related to technology failures, market acceptance, and financial investments. White-label solutions have a proven track record, which can provide a level of assurance and reduce the uncertainty and risks associated with untested, proprietary developments.

Travel is an interesting category where there are both players in the travel space, those who are increasingly searching for white-label solutions to either accelerate change for their existing business offer – digitalization of bricks and mortar brand as an example - and those from external verticals such as finance, telco or airlines. These external verticals utilize white-label to piggy-back into the attractiveness and high yield of travel to build greater loyalty with their customers.

Being a key player in the B2B space within the travel industry, we have aimed to explore the significant ways in which white-label solutions can enhance both other travel brands and other organizations' ability to deliver a smooth and enriching booking experience for their customers:

Shopping cart: With the boom in online shopping accelerated by the recent COVID pandemic, consumers are accustomed to the convenience of purchasing online and being able to add things to their cart before searching for other items, whether they are buying electronic goods, the weekly groceries or indeed travel. White-label solutions should integrate shopping cart features which will enable travellers to combine their accommodation, transport and activities reservations into one easy booking transaction and this helps save money and get more from points. Shopping carts also encourage customers to purchase higher-value items or add complementary products to their carts. These can be offered by bundle offers, upgrades, frequent purchase discounts as an upselling strategy.

Range of products inventory: Consumers demand a wide variety of choices, keeping this in mind it is imperative that the white-label platform can provide a range of inventory that is best-in-class. Rocket Travel by Agoda's white-label solutions for example presents the consumers accommodations, flights, activities and car rentals from Agoda, Booking.com and Priceline.

Loyalty management: Partners are looking for incentives and solutions that help them build loyalty with their customers. Rocket Travel by Agoda has more than 10 years of expertise in crafting compelling campaigns and tailored experiences for different segments of loyalty programs' customer base, which is crucial for brands seeking white-label solutions. The ability to personalize offers and experiences, letting partner brands cultivate strong and lasting relationships with their customers is non-negotiable.

Advanced marketing capabilities: Customer support over email and text with push messages, cross-selling widgets are the basics that any white-label solution should be offering its consumers. What brand partners seek is the white-label's capability and capacity to manage and optimize their marketing performance. Partner brands seek platforms that equip them with the tools needed to reach and engage customers effectively aligning touch points to reach travelers wherever they are in their travel booking journey.

Mobile first but platform agnostic: Needless to say, mobile devices are on the up and up. A white-label solution should have the ability to empower partner brands' consumers to seamlessly access and navigate the platform ensuring a smooth booking process whether they are on a smartphone, tablet or a laptop. A user experience that remains intuitive and consistent across platforms is a hygiene factor but one that can determine whether a consumer returns to the platform or not.

Leverage scale: For brands considering a white-label solution, evaluate how to leverage the solution provider's scale to reap the benefits of things like high uptime, robust security measures, and pursuing improved conversions.

Insights and Data: White-label solutions can offer a host of benefits when it comes to insights and data. Partner brands can access valuable data analytics and insights into customer behavior, booking patterns, and market trends. These insights could enable them to make informed decisions, refine their marketing strategies, optimize pricing models, and enhance the overall customer experience. White-label solutions also provide robust reporting and tracking tools, to monitor performance in real-time and adjust their offerings accordingly to remain competitive.

In conclusion, white-label solutions are already the big talking point across industries and now increasingly for the travel industry. From a dynamic multi-funnel approach to personalized loyalty features, seamless mobile compatibility, and an unbeatable inventory, Rocket Travel by Agoda's white-label solution harnesses the power of technology to help partner brands' stay ahead of the curve.

As CCO of Agoda, Damien's responsibilities include leading the Rocket Travel by Agoda business unit which provides the technical expertise to offer partner-branded travel experiences with an emphasis on rewards and loyalty. Working with partners, we ensure travelers get the most value and delight when planning their getaways by incentivizing consumers to secure thousands more miles, gift cards, or additional discounts just by booking through the partner-brand portals.

In her role as Senior Vice President at Rocket Travel by Agoda, Sarah leads the strategic vision that offers solutions and contributes substantially to revenue growth for our partners. Sarah sees partner-centricity as a primary distinguishing factor for the brand, and a significant reasoning for our partners' ongoing commitment to us.

SOURCE Agoda