The Rise Of Super Apps And What That Will Mean For Your Business
12 May 2022
There are now more than 7 million apps available in the world, and chances are you use apps on a daily basis. Now there are several companies that have created super apps that offer customers a complete ecosystem for managing many different things.
How many different apps do you use every day? 5? 10? 20? More?
For many of us, apps are now a part of our daily lives that we can’t function without, and we use individual apps for everything from banking to socializing to shopping.
But imagine using one app to accomplish a multitude of things, all in one place. These “super apps” do exist today, and more of them are going to be created soon.
Instead of jumping between distinct apps to do things like book transportation, handle your finances, or communicate with friends and relatives, super apps let you do all of those things from one all-in-one application.
Companies Leading the Way with Super Apps
WeChat has over a billion users and is owned by the Chinese conglomerate Tencent. The app started as a messaging service, similar to WhatsApp, but now WeChat users can do things like book hotel rooms and flights, hail a ride, send and receive digital payments, and play games.
Indonesian app Gojek allows users in Southeast Asia to access dozens of services within their app. That includes food delivery, transportation, package delivery, digital payments, and even booking a massage. Gojek processes more than 7 million orders a day and is now the largest consumer transactional technology group in Southeast Asia.
Grab, another Southeast Asian company, started out as the GrabTaxi ride-hailing service. Since then, it has expanded into multiple services like ticket purchasing, hotel booking, on-demand video, grocery shopping, and financial services.
Even the Facebook app is now multi-functional, offering shopping, dating services, and gaming. TikTok recently added an in-app shopping experience, too.
Should Your Company Create a Super App?
According to the State of Mobile 2021 report from App Annie, people are spending 4.2 hours a day on their phones, and companies are fighting ruthlessly for consumer attention. To stay competitive, you may need to level up your app to include as many services as possible.
After all, the more services you offer, the longer your customer will stay on your app – as long as you create a positive, frictionless user experience. A positive user experience is critical, so people click away to other apps as little as possible.
By expanding your services, you also get access to more data about your customers (like address data for food delivery), which can be used seamlessly through the different services within your app.
If creating a super-app is not on your agenda, then it is vital to understand the impact of such super-apps on your business. Will they be competitors of your app services? Or do they offer integration opportunities?
Only time will tell whether super apps will replace many (or most) of the single-purpose apps on our phones. But as companies reorganize themselves around a digital-first, app-centered model, the super app trend is one to watch.
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Bernard Marr is a world-renowned futurist, influencer and thought leader in the fields of business and technology, with a passion for using technology for the good of humanity.
He is a best-selling author of over 20 books, writes a regular column for Forbes and advises and coaches many of the world’s best-known organisations.
He has a combined following of 4 million people across his social media channels and newsletters and was ranked by LinkedIn as one of the top 5 business influencers in the world.
Bernard’s latest book is ‘Generative AI in Practice’.
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