How to distribute a locally targeted app for a business

I have a general question. If I wanted to develop a local app for a small business, how would I be able to distribute this? For example, lets say I wrote an app for a small hobby shop. To make it available to the public, would the app store be the correct place? That seems too general.

Would they need to have an enterprise account? For each business I work with, would they need their own account?


Thanks for any help on this.

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QR code sounds ideal for that, except each business would need their own store account to distribute, and each app would be expected to attract a non-trivial audience while showcasing the platform.


Beacons assume an existing/installed app.


Otherwise, Apple doesn't provide a distribution strategy that matches a general public, limited audience, limited life, non-store install scheme.

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What does the app do? Who would use it?

" For each business I work with, would they need their own account?"


Apple changed their model a few years ago and introduced the concept of "spam" and a 'collection app'. It seems they want either 1) each store has their own developer account and their own app or 2) you create a single collection app that has a mechanism within it to select one store from a large list of stores. So if you had a 'barber shop' functionality (location, scheduling, menu, price list, favorite barber) you could make a single 'barber shop anywhere' app and have a single page to select a particular baber shop. You could use geolocation or a QR code to narrow the list but the idea is one app for many shops.


Back then Apple suggested using IAP to enable the functionality of one or more of those individual selections from the collection.