Businesses like Walmart, Disney, and Discovery are bundling services and adding the “+” suffix to denote them (e.g. Disney+, Discovery+, W+, etc.). In a recent article in RetailDive, we learn that Walmart is giving its customers free, six-month trial Spotify accounts. I think W+ bundling services is smart. Last week, I compared running a gym to offering software. I spoke about bundling services with things that people like to increase their usage, such as work with music. I joked about playing Hans Zimmer's The Dark Knight soundtrack when a member updates their Bridge website. (What can I say, I equate retail work with saving a city, minus the cape.) I bet Walmart wishes it didn’t sell video service Vudu in April 2020—right before everyone was quarantined. Streaming would’ve been perfect for its 'Bentonville Bundle’: Shopify music, Vudu TV streaming, and discount gasoline.
We want to watch businesses that bundle services together (like Walmart) and learn from them. I believe that bundling services together increases adoption and stickiness. Yet, not everyone agrees. Some business strategists suggest focusing on what makes you money and trimming off the rest. They advocate for putting 'less in the bundle.' The issue with that is: some peripheral services are part of a hidden stickiness that brings in users. For example, Amazon is not a movie studio. Should it cut its Prime movie service? No way, that’s part of its marketing budget. Similarly, Bridge has its marketing ‘wings:’ wholesale ordering, file sharing, and news sharing. Those are not revenue generators—we may even lose money providing them—but they are part of our stickiness. We want to offer things that people need even if they cost us some money. Now, a business expert may clarify his comments: don’t offer things that cost you money and get low usage. That’s hard to disagree with. Let's examine one of our features: our news sharing feature.
Our news sharing feature is not one of our most popular features (product syncing and gift registry are the most popular features). But, I believe news is important to our bundle and platform. Why?
Be found. Stores that share news from their ‘garden' rank higher in Google--instead of giving other providers this traffic.
Be happy. News is the little umbrella in our drink. It’s the icing on our cake. It's the trees in our yard. It’s the crossword puzzle in the Times. It’s the cartoon in The New Yorker. In other words, it helps us hocking spatulas look smart and honorable. And makes customers smile.
Features like news are part of the bundle that helps make our platform attractive.
One may ask, “What is the difference between a bundle and a platform?” (...Well, I can wear a platform.) Many great platforms offer bundles of services, but most bundles are not platforms. Bundles are often just groups of things offered at a discounted price. We see bundles at McDonald's (the Happy Meal), Spectrum ("home-tv-mobile”), and in government (health care, pre-K, and F-16s for a small annual tithe — ”Sign me up!”).
Platforms are often software-based and exponentially increase with the addition of each member.
I believe our members want to embrace bundles and platforms, like mixing chocolate and peanut butter. Our 'Reeses Pieces' is working: our sales are up 55% over last year. We will be adding more bundled features to the platform. With our new features, one could even start calling us: Bridge+.