Are there any alternatives to the App Store and Google Play? 

As an entrepreneur who has just taken up an app development business opportunity, it’s probably fair to say that your entire focus when it comes to app launches, popularity and downloads is the App Store and Google Play. This is not surprising when you consider that in 2017, app developers earned over $26 billion in revenue from the App Store and around $20 billion from Google Play.

With such revenue comes masses of competition with millions of apps published and competing for downloads, reviews and top spots each month. Did you know though that there is app life beyond those two marketplaces? While Google Play and the App Store undoubtedly dominate – and with good reason – there are actually several other places where users can browse, buy and download apps. Here, we’ve rounded up a few of the lesser-known alternatives, to give you a whole-picture view of the industry.

AppExchange (Salesforce)

Chances are you could well have used this app store yourself as it’s part of the Salesforce offering. As the largest SaaS provider in the world, Salesforce claims to be the world leader in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) , used by over 150,000 companies. The platform is app-driven so it’s no surprise that it has a thriving app store. What’s more, AppExchange actually predates the Apple App Store so it’s been around a while.

All the apps listed are business-related, helping Salesforce uses to add functionality to the CRM. Categories range from HR to analytics, sales to marketing.

Shopify

Shopify is well known as an ecommerce store site builder, but did you know it also had an app store? The Shopify app store is populated by free and paid plug ins, with a heavy focus on ecommerce functionality.

Categories learn heavily towards online sales and marketing, with users able to browse according to need; marketing, finances, shipping, productivity, reporting, store design and conversions.

The marketplace spotlights trending apps and staff picks as well as those made by Shopify, meaning third-party app developers have several opportunities to stand out.

Alexa Skills

While not strictly an app-marketplace, it’s fair to say that Alexa Skills is a new generation of app store thanks to the rapid growth of voice technology. The Alexa Skills store lists thousands of ‘skills’ (mini programs like apps Amazon Echo and Dot) devices can use. The Skills perform a range of commands such as “Alexa, ask Question of the day”, “Alexa what’s my flash briefing”, “Alexa, find my phone”.