AGGREGATORS AS AWESOME AIDSHOW VARIOUS AGGREGATORS HAVE MADE DATA ORGANIZATION A LOT EASIER

Introduction

Aggregator refers to a website or computer software that aggregates i.e. combines or assembles data or information

from multiple online sources and provides a repository to access these. Aggregators become important as content

and useful data proliferates. Streamlining and organization of data becomes possible with the effective use of Aggre-

gators.

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Contents

Types of aggregators

Benefits of aggregators

Demerits of aggregators

Tools used in building aggregators

Points to note while building aggregator apps

Case studies

Curbside

LevelUp

Summary

About SayOne

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Types of aggregators

Review aggregator collects reviews of products and services. E.g. Alatest (cars), Testfreaks (electronics),Rottentomatoes (movies), Albumoftheyear (music), goodreads (books), etc.

Search aggregator is a metasearch engine which gathers results from multiple search engines simultaneously by means of RSS search results. Google is the most famous example here.

Social network aggregator collects content from multiple social network services like Instagram, Tumblr, Flickr,LinkedIn and Youtube into a single unified presentation.

News aggregator or RSS reader aggregates syndicated web content like online newspapers, blogs, vlogs andpodcasts into one location.

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Benefits of aggregatorsData is easier to consume as it is streamlined, centralized and processed.

Users have the flexibility to tailor content to suit their needs. Curating of content assumes more importance as the content grows in size.

With a wider reach, aggregators have a better understanding of consumer patterns, trends and buying behavior.

Aggregators reduce the risk for user adoption in networked businesses because they leverage on other services which create network effects.

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Demerits of aggregatorsIt is not always ok to scrape or crawl for content. The source party takes the call in this matter.

Although aggregators can increase traffic, awareness, and exposure to sources, incentives are still somewhat mis-aligned between the two parties involved.

Basically being intermediaries, aggregators are not able to rake in large revenues.

Aggregators have to invest in marketing for acquiring customers in the same way as a source.

The issue for accountability for a faulty/ abusive content is a grey area.

The data on aggregator sites may not be uniform as they come from different sources.

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Tools used in building aggregatorsApplication Programming Interface (API) which interacts with a particular services.

Web scraping: The full content of a website is loaded using Python programming language and combined with pars-ing tools to extract relevant information out of it. In case of JavaScript we use JQuery.

Wherever sites have legal restrictions on scraping using APIs manual data dumps are used.

Content is curated i.e., manually stored and linked sorted to existing database content.

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Points to note while building aggregator apps

News aggregator apps

Have a wide category of news feeds and have them well organized. Tailored content is important to help readers

sieve out essential information quicker. It should be spam free. In order to build a subscriber list for purposes of

marketing, make sure to have an attractive landing page.

Search aggregator apps

Use consistent indexing, taxonomy, and text analytic strategies uniformly across all sources from where content

is aggregated. This can bring about proper indexing across the sources when it comes to search syntax and

relevance ranking. Generation of useful analytics and extraction of meaning becomes smoother therefore.

Movie aggregator apps

Viewers can subscribe to personalized alerts which notify them of content matching their preferences. Filtering

helps save viewer’s time in looking for stuff to watch on TV or streaming media. More quality time can be spent

on movies or programs of their choice. Content aggregators therefore solve the challenge faced by users in

finding content relevant to them.

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CASE STUDIES

Curbside

A case in point about Aggregators boosting businesses and also enhancing customer and seller experience is the

Curbside website and mobile application. Based in California’s Bay Area, Curbside offers a unique shopping experi-

ence that blends the comfort of choosing merchandise from your living room and making secure online payments

with actually going out and making pickups without too much time-taking shop hopping. Different stores might offer

different kinds of deals and this is one way of availing all of them without having to undertake the taxing exercise of

visiting all the stores. The items ordered at various stores will be delivered to a common physical location, the curb

from where you pick them up, often without having to step out of the vehicle. This spells freedom from the usual

shopping hassles. The uses of this service for the aged and the physically challenged are tremendous.

Apart from capturing the updated data about stores in the locality and their product lists, Curbside also offers promo-

tions to attract customers. Customers can use promo codes from the website to avail of discounts. A study of the

history of visitors to one location showed a long pause at a particular spot, namely at a Target store. This resulted in

the addition of that store to the Curbside retailers’ list. The latest retailer to partner Curbside for bringing store pickup

experience to its customers is the pharmacy major CVS Health. The aggregator’s business is accentuated through tie

ups with major service providers like Uber (transport) and Postmates (logistics). The app is supported by iOS and

Android mobile operating systems.

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LevelUp

LevelUp is a full stack custom mobile application available in Android and iOS that gives restaurant customers every-

thing they need in one app. This includes loyalty, payment, order ahead, gift cards, beacons, nutrition information,

locations, coordinating vendors, etc. This combined with rich analytics, processing savings and ROI-driven campaigns

to boost their businesses make it an invaluable app. All data collected by the custom app can be accessed through

business dashboard. Comprehensive analytics and a robust CRM help you learn about your customers. Level Up’s

advanced marketing campaign engine makes that information actionable through personalized promotions designed

to engage the customers. This is what enabled LevelUp to gain 14000 plus restaurants as customers, including

names like Dunn Brothers Coffee, Steak ‘n Shake and TacoTime.

Whenever a restaurant’s customers pay using LevelUp, the former captures and catalogs important information about

their interactions with its business. LevelUp helps to use that data into action with a campaign engine built to increase

revenues. It increases customer loyalty with flexible loyalty programs. It helps to drive traffic during rainy times with

real-time weather based campaigns. It helps attract new customers with powerful viral acquisition tools. Most impor-

tantly LevelUp learns about businesses over time and recommends profit-maximizing strategies right to the busi-

nesses’ inboxes. Because LevelUp is the method of payment, redemption is always seamless and customers simply

pay to accrue or redeem rewards. Performance can be tracked all the way from point-of-impression to point-of-sale

and all future transactions. LevelUp is an open platform that opens itself out to enhancements, embedding and

extensions in creative ways. Integration of LevelUp to customer experiences is enabled by means of fully docu-

mented API and SDK. Review sites, fitness apps, smart watch manufacturers are some of the businesses integrating

LevelUp into their apps. Analytics is key here. More than the benefit of saving money each time customers pay with

LevelUp, the real value in each payment is the story it tells about the customer. It therefore results in enhanced cus-

tomer engagement.

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SummaryAggregators are fast catching up in newer areas and optimizing consumer experience. Existing aggregators are

seeing constant innovation by the day. The idea is to bring about better value proposition in the offerings. If you are

interested in knowing more about aggregator apps or how to leverage the latest technologies to implement them

please contact us and we will happily assist you.

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About SayOneSayOne Technologies headquartered in Kochi, India started its amazing journey in 2011. In five years it grew from a 3

member outfit to a vibrant team of 50 engineers who are passionate about technology. SayOne has been partnering

start ups and SMEs from USA, Europe and Asia. We have delighted several clients through our delivery of 250+ pro-

jects. Apart from winning recognition as a leading player in Python technology, we are also Django CMS’s only partner

firm in India. We are into R and Hadoop. Our work in the sphere of Android and iOS for mobile applications has won us

kudos. Our teams keep abreast of the latest in technology and business and constantly think ahead to move forward.

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www.sayonetech.com

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