White-label ordering

White-label ordering is a vendor’s ordering software carrying your logo, colours and domain. It is a legitimate model and it launches quickly, which is why most of the big ordering vendors sell it. It looks like your own system until you want to change something or leave: the flow is theirs, and what happens to the customer data on the way out is a contract question rather than a technical one.

In practice

White-label ordering means a vendor’s software with your logo, colours and domain on it. It is a legitimate model and it is quick to launch, which is why the big ordering vendors sell it.

Two things are worth checking before signing. First, what happens to the customer data when you leave — whether you can export the accounts, the addresses and the marketing permissions, or whether they stay with the platform. Second, what you can actually change: white-label usually means your brand inside their flow, so an awkward part of your menu stays awkward.

A built system is the other end of that trade: longer to launch, and yours afterwards — the code, the data, the look, and the decisions about what happens next.

Also called: branded ordering app, own-brand ordering.

Questions people ask about white-label ordering

What should I check before signing a white-label contract?

Two things. First, what happens to customer data when you leave: whether you can export accounts, addresses and marketing permissions, or whether they stay with the platform. Second, what you can actually change, because white-label usually means your brand inside their flow, so an awkward part of your menu stays awkward.

Is white-label the same as having your own app?

Not in the way that matters. The branding is yours and the software is not, so the roadmap, the checkout behaviour and the data model belong to the vendor. That is a reasonable trade for speed; it stops being reasonable when the thing you need changed is the thing they will not change.

When is a built platform the better answer?

When the way you work does not fit the template, when the customer list is the point, or when you expect to still be running this in five years. It takes longer to launch and it is yours afterwards: the code, the data, the look, and the decision about what happens next.

Where to go next

Ordering platforms built as yours →