Almost every web business has a destination: a website, an app, etc. The destination is often seen as the product in its entirety. Talk to a startup about their product and they will often think of it as a website or an app that the user goes to.
However, the destination is just one manifestation of the product.
An internet service can be delivered to users in two broad ways. It’s often important to think through both the routes to figure out how your user will best interact with your service. The two modes are characterized as follows:
Destination: How do the users get to where the product is?
Distribution: How does the product get to where the users are?
Any service can be delivered as a combination of these two.
What are they?
Destinations are the online address of the product that users remember and visit.
Manifestations?
Most common forms of destinations are websites, mobile apps and downloaded software (that syncs with the cloud).
Important because…
This is the go-to place for users to interact with the product. Whenever you think of Facebook, you have a site or an app to go to to use the product.
But…
What are they?
Distribution delivers product functionalities in the context of the user making it easy for the user to interact with the product.
Manifestations?
Most common forms of distribution include widgets (Yelp), code embeds (Quora, YouTube), API provisioning, browser extensions as well as apps (especially apps that deliver you a feed from a product, for consumption).
Important because…
But…
More often than not, distribution is limited to certain functionalities. A news feed delivered to the user or a browser extension to capture a web page exhibit only a slice of the functionality that the product offers. However, that is the exact slice of functionality that is needed in the context of the user.
Often, distribution can be the difference between a product that is convenient and engaging and a product that is difficult to use
Ultimately, destination and distribution are determined not by their physical manifestations (although that helps understand the difference) but by the use case.
Destination requires the user to move into the context of the product. Distribution enables the user to use the product in his active context.
While the two are different, there is an overlap between the two as well. For example, the Instagram app acts as a destination in consumption mode where a user can view photos and participate in discussions, but it also fits into the context of the user (using the phone as a camera) in production mode. An offline downloaded software (e.g. Dropbox, Evernote) that syncs with the cloud serves as a destination (user specifically opens a software and uses the product within that context) as well as distribution (the native context of the product is geared towards online usage, but the offline piece fits into the user context who might not have access to the internet at that point.
As shown by these examples, the manifestations overlap, but the use cases are different. Hence, it is important to think through possible use cases and identify usage contexts where a destination makes more sense than distribution or vice versa.
In summary, when planning an internet product, it is important to consider the mix of Distribution and Destination that it requires:
Often, distribution can be the difference between a product that is convenient and engaging and a product that is difficult to use.
How have you split your product across distribution and destination? If you haven’t do you feel some distribution touch points could help improve product usage?
Gaining power in concentrated markets What do Spotify, the connected vehicle data market, open banking…
The unbundling and rebundling of organizations We frequently make the mistake of thinking of AI…
On rebundling jobs and skill premiums The AI augmentation fallacy goes something like this: “AI…
On the risks of over-emphasizing platform thinking In an age of platform hype, everyone scrambles…
The untold story of the most under-used real estate on the phone screen Which players…
How stand-up comedy helps Amazon win at e-commerce On Attention Conglomerates and Internal Attention Markets…