SUPER APP

1. Context

2. Super apps

• A super app is a platform developed by a company offering various services under one umbrella.
• For example, WeChat, which started as a messaging app, expanded into payments, shopping, food ordering, cab services, etc. to become a super app.
• A physical world comparison would be a mall, which has various shops across businesses.

3. Makers of the Super apps

• Typically, companies that have a slew of services and products to offer tend to consolidate them into a super app.
• The concept first emerged in China and Southeast Asian Countries like Thailand and Indonesia, where Internet companies like WeChat and Grab leveraged the customer traffic on their platforms that originally came for social media and communication needs.
• They then offered these customers additional services, leading to increased revenue realisations.

4. West Asia Approach 

• In West Asia, a different approach is seen.
• Traditional business conglomerates, such as real estate firms, having presence in shopping malls, grocery and entertainment have built digital assets.
• These businesses see high customer footfall and high repeat purchase frequency, both critical parameters for a super app's growth.

5. Indian companies 

• A company becomes super app-ready when its large base of the population is smartphone-first instead of desktop and the ecosystem of apps customised to local needs is not evolved yet.
• India is a market where most people are experiencing the Internet for the first time on their mobile phones.
• This is one of the main reasons why Indian companies are looking at building super apps.
• Apart from increased revenue realisation with the consolidation of services, such apps also provide companies with large swaths of consumer data which can then be harnessed to learn more about user behaviour.
• Apart from TataNeu, Reliance Industries under its Jio umbrella has consolidated offerings such as shopping, content streaming, groceries, etc.
• Paytm has also brought together services like payments, ticket bookings, games and online shopping into one app.
• Flipkart Group-Owned payments app Phonepe has done the same.

6. Concerns

• The concept of a conglomerate trying to keep a customer within its ecosystem for most services increases the possibility of a monopoly.
• There are also concerns about privacy in cases where a super app has onboarded third-party service providers.
• Experts point out that data collected by a master app could be used to train machines in artificial intelligence and predict consumer behaviour.
• It is one of the main reasons why super apps have not picked pace in countries such as the US and the UK.

For Prelims & Mains