Why join early?

In a two-sided marketplace — with buyers and sellers — the marketplace becomes more valuable when there are more product buyers (users) and more sellers (retailers). Upside has a limit to how many retailers can participate within different categories like fuel, convenience, and grocery — on a first-come, first-serve basis — and the platform is growing quickly to fill up those quotas and bring more users and retailers onto the platform every day. 

Existing retailers on the platform wanted to know: If I’m already on Upside, how is my business affected by new retailers in my area joining the platform? 

Key results

• $100 million in Upside-funded advertising for retailers on the platform
• 60% increase in Upside transactions within six months of reaching critical mass

The impact of Upside-funded advertising

So, how are businesses on Upside affected by new area retailers joining the platform? To answer the question, we analyzed retailers across all Upside purchasing categories in 50 different markets — large and small — across every region of the United States.

When Upside is just getting started in a new market, the number of transactions that it drives to participating retailers seems minimal. That’s because we need to hit a “critical mass” of fuel retailers (20% of sites in a market) before we can unlock millions of advertising dollars to grow our user base and drive them to participating retailers. In fact, each year Upside invests more than $100 million in advertising to deliver customers to retailers on the platform. That investment is well above the industry standard, and compared to some competitors who invest between $2 million and $10 million, it’s exponentially higher.  

Each year, Upside invests more than $100 million in advertising to deliver customers to retailers on the platform.

We wait for critical mass before spending these advertising dollars because of the Marketplace Effect — more retailers makes the Upside product more interesting to users, which attracts more of both. If Upside deploys these ad dollars before there is enough inventory to serve an influx of users, users have a negative experience with the app, delete it, and are then more difficult to re-acquire. That means lost volume for retailers.   

When we hit that critical mass, Upside advertises across a variety of national channels to reach consumers wherever they are — in the car on the way to work, listening to their favorite podcast, scrolling on social media, or reading the news.   

There's an advantage for early adopters

When we reach a critical mass of retailers and unlock additional advertising dollars in a market, retailers already on Upside see a 60% increase in transactions through Upside within six months. That translates to more new customers and more profit captured without any additional effort.

Early adopters of Upside see the biggest benefit. Not only are they able to secure their spot on the platform, but they’re also able to capture all of the demand that an influx of new app users creates. This is especially impactful for retailers in categories like fuel, convenience, and grocery, where there is a limit to how many locations can participate on the platform.  

As we continue to add new retailers to a market, those early-adopter retailers already on the program will continue to grow with Upside, especially as we continue to invest more in advertising. Retailers that wait to join miss out on Upside’s marketing dollars and all those impressions being served to new customers.

‍