How to Build Customer Value in 2024: a Guide to Vertical, Horizontal, and Multidirectional Ecosystems

Vertical ecosystems center around the company’s key product. They offer extra services to complete the experience of using this product, thus creating more value for customers.

For instance, Helen is interested in the book “Atlas Shrugged” by Ayn Rand. So she looks it up on Kindle. There, Helen can buy both paper-based and digital copies of the book, read it, listen to the audiobook, and get supplementary information.

In this case, Helen uses the services of a vertical ecosystem. She gets extra value beyond just one product and thus is more likely to choose Kindle over another book service.

Horizontal ecosystems do that by offering ancillary services that cover other needs on the user journey.

For example, Helen’s goal is to go on vacation. One step on her user journey is booking accommodation. So she opens Airbnb. Here, Helen learns that she can not only book, but also rent out stays, plan her vacation activities with the help of local hosts, organize business trips and relocation, text, and pay online.

Such extra services help Airbnb bolster its core as now Helen will have more reasons to return: either to rent out her own place or, say, research activities for her next trip.

Multidirectional ecosystems gather diverse services in one place. It allows them to satisfy multiple unrelated user goals and ensure more frequent user-company interactions.

A good example of a multidirectional ecosystem is Rakuten. If Helen was a user of this service, she would turn to it on a daily basis to do her diverse tasks: purchase goods, stream shows, book trips, and make online payments.