Lionel Sujay Vailshery
Research expert covering cloud computing and emerging tech industries
Super apps - statistics & facts
Super apps are mobile applications that incorporate several functions in one interface. Super app experiences often trespass digital boundaries to provide offline solutions: jumping from social functions, group chats, and e-commerce, super apps ideally include banking and digital payment functions – including the possibility for users to pay offline merchants via QR codes. According to a survey conducted in January 2022, the right super app could count on an estimated 98 million day-one-users which would drive the annual spending to over 3.25 billion U.S. dollars.
Chinese platform WeChat, which was launched in 2011 by tech giant Tencent, is considered the textbook example of a successful super app. The platform holds one of the top spots in the ranking of leading media brands worldwide, coming third with a value of over 62 billion U.S. dollars. WeChat’s 1.3 billion monthly active users can count on several Mini Program categories, including daily services programs, mobile shopping, transportation services, gaming, as well as travel and financial services. Mini Programs work as standalone in-app experiences. The most popular WeChat Mini Program – WeChat City Services - was launched in 2015 as an all-encompassing solution for users to plan and control virtually all aspects of their life, from doctors’ appointments to booking transportation, from paying electrical bills to reporting a crime to the local authorities.
Consumers clearly identify pain points in their online and offline purchase experience that they would like to see resolved in one single interface: 53 percent of respondents would like to see a super app making shopping easier and more convenient, while 40 percent would like to have access to a wider range of products and services. However, security and centralization concerns appeared to be pressing issues for the surveyed respondents who identified shopping, travel, or entertainment as the main aspects they would like to see integrated.
Concerns over the adoption of a super app might be eased by the trustworthiness of the publisher: over half of the surveyed respondents reported the overall publishers’ reputation as the main trust factor to use a super app. Banking institutions remain the most trusted publishers for users in Australia, Germany, and the United States, while consumers in the United Kingdom reported they would feel more confident using digital platform PayPal.
Firstly, super apps’ successful adoption is tied to the presence of a mobile-first market, in which users’ connected device of choice is a smartphone. The second most attractive feature of a super app is the possibility to incorporate financial and payment services: Paytm, Grab, Goto, and Zalo – respectively launched in India, Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam- are the latest examples of super apps pivoting their experiences around financial or banking services. The Nigerian digital e-commerce platform Jumia – which counted over 6.8 million active customers at the end of 2020- launched its digital payment service JumiaPay in 2021, while the Nairobi-based Safaricom generated a revenue of over 765 million U.S. dollars in 2021 via its M-Pesa service, one of the most used mobile money transfer and payment service in Africa.
Chinese platform WeChat, which was launched in 2011 by tech giant Tencent, is considered the textbook example of a successful super app. The platform holds one of the top spots in the ranking of leading media brands worldwide, coming third with a value of over 62 billion U.S. dollars. WeChat’s 1.3 billion monthly active users can count on several Mini Program categories, including daily services programs, mobile shopping, transportation services, gaming, as well as travel and financial services. Mini Programs work as standalone in-app experiences. The most popular WeChat Mini Program – WeChat City Services - was launched in 2015 as an all-encompassing solution for users to plan and control virtually all aspects of their life, from doctors’ appointments to booking transportation, from paying electrical bills to reporting a crime to the local authorities.
What makes an app ‘super’? User intent might be key to onboarding
According to a globally representative survey of consumers conducted at the beginning of 2022, over six in 10 respondents reported they wanted to integrate their grocery and retail purchases in one all-encompassing super app. Convenience was the key benefit that a super app could provide for 66 percent of respondents, but the security to have all their data stored in one platform and the possibility to coordinate different life spheres with an omni-comprehensive app was a valued aspect for 61 percent and 54 percent of consumers, respectively.Consumers clearly identify pain points in their online and offline purchase experience that they would like to see resolved in one single interface: 53 percent of respondents would like to see a super app making shopping easier and more convenient, while 40 percent would like to have access to a wider range of products and services. However, security and centralization concerns appeared to be pressing issues for the surveyed respondents who identified shopping, travel, or entertainment as the main aspects they would like to see integrated.
Concerns over the adoption of a super app might be eased by the trustworthiness of the publisher: over half of the surveyed respondents reported the overall publishers’ reputation as the main trust factor to use a super app. Banking institutions remain the most trusted publishers for users in Australia, Germany, and the United States, while consumers in the United Kingdom reported they would feel more confident using digital platform PayPal.
Not yet a globally available format: why localization matters
The rise of super apps such as WeChat and its main domestic competitor Alipay is to be considered in the context of unique environmental and societal factors mainly present in selected countries in Asia, South-East Asia, and most recently in several markets covering the MENA region.Firstly, super apps’ successful adoption is tied to the presence of a mobile-first market, in which users’ connected device of choice is a smartphone. The second most attractive feature of a super app is the possibility to incorporate financial and payment services: Paytm, Grab, Goto, and Zalo – respectively launched in India, Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam- are the latest examples of super apps pivoting their experiences around financial or banking services. The Nigerian digital e-commerce platform Jumia – which counted over 6.8 million active customers at the end of 2020- launched its digital payment service JumiaPay in 2021, while the Nairobi-based Safaricom generated a revenue of over 765 million U.S. dollars in 2021 via its M-Pesa service, one of the most used mobile money transfer and payment service in Africa.
WhatsApp Pay in India and Brazil
Mobile chat market leader WhatsApp might also be on the path to becoming a super app by incorporating e-wallet and money transfer functions in WhatsApp Pay, available only in India and Brazil as of 2022. In July 2021, WhatsApp expanded its instant payment functions to Brazil, a market in which WhatsApp counts a reach between 98 to 99 percent among mobile smartphone owners between 2021 and 2022. In India, regulators have been closely monitoring WhatsApp expansion: the popular chat app - which has over 487.5 million users in India - rolled out payment options in the country in November 2020 to approximately 40 million users, expanding its reach to an additional 60 million users in April 2022.
