The Rise of ‘Super Apps’ like WeChat!

Can There Be Another Super App?

Did you know, in 2011 WeChat was mainly launched as a messenger app? Since then, the app started to undergo a major revamp, where multiple different features and capabilities were incorporated in to its framework, until it got to the final shape in which it’s available to consumers today. Reporting a whopping $1.8 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2016, this app is not just revolutionary but its far ahead in terms of revenue generation opportunities as compared to its Western peers. WhatsApp reported revenue of just $49 million and Facebook Messenger reported $0 revenue for the same period of time.

So if it’s so successful, this means that users want it and love to engage with it, therefore is it possible to build another super app like We-Chat anytime soon?

Even though there is no definite count of super apps in Asia, but they are emerging everywhere, including some areas where you would least expect them to be.

Myanmar only got internet access in 2000, and since the last couple of years, the country has embraced a Vietnam-developed app called Zalo. It is integrating new functionalities into its app, including online shopping features called Zalo Shop and payment platform called Zalo Pay, thereby turning it in one of the most premier apps on the Myanmar app market.

And while there is no specific number of different services or features an app should offer to qualify as a super app, the only mark of success that can allow you to determine whether your app can be considered a super app is this; if your target audience struggles to get through multiple tasks through their day if they don’t have access to your app, you have succeeded at creating a super app.

Apps In China:

Millions of people in Asia’s developing markets might have missed the era of personal computers, but they have jumped straight to smartphones. Using apps for everyday activities has become second nature to them.

Around 788 million people in China are mobile users, which represent 98% of country’s total interent user base. WeChat entered a market that was perfectly ready for its arrival. Over half of the online sales in China are made using mobile devices, in contrast with around one-third of internet purchases made via the same medium in the U.S. The internet usage pattern in China, has been one of the most decisive factors contributing to the stratospheric success of WeChat.

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The popularity of WeChat has also provided it’s parent company with widespread international recognition. Tencent was featured at eighth in the top 10 most valuable brands published by Brandz, being the only Chinese company on a list that had nine American owned firms.

Is Having Multiple Features In One App The Only Reason For The Success Of WeChat?

“The red envelope service is the latest must-have service during the festival. The mobile payment market is booming in China. Every company is trying whatever they can to attract potential users,” Li Ye, an analyst at Analysys International (Beijing-based Internet consultancy)

WeChat has experienced several phases of growth, and with each level, the company has come up with brilliant marketing techniques. One great example of such marketing strategies was to the launch of red envelopes. Older people in China customarily gift physical red envelopes with different amount money in them to younger family members or children in the family or of close friends during the Chinese holidays.

In 2014, WeChat partnered with CCTV to introduce their electronic red envelopes for the Spring Festival. This allowed WeChat users to send their traditional cash envelops through their mobile phones. Within the ten days of 2014 Spring Festival, over 8 million app users took part in this new feature and exchanged over 40 million red envelopes.

Along with being a one of a kind app in China – a super app – WeChat has been making extra effort to cater to unique culture of China and expectations of its people, thereby capturing its target demographics perfectly.

Wrapping Up

The progression in consumer preferences is a major driving force for super apps around the world. After around a decade of division and unbundling of services in everyday life, consumers are starting to turn back to re-bundling.

They want to use one app, instead of using multiple apps for ride-sharing, payment options and ordering food. Globally consumers may not explicitly demand a super app, but they surely want the ease and convenience that super apps like WeChat offers.

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