Why Are Super Apps Trending?

Wouldn’t life be easier if you have one single app where you can order food and grocery, book a home cleaning service, movie tickets, cab, buy clothes and accessories, and more? In short, everything you need in one single app with amazing discounts and deals. Yes, a super app can do that for you! A super-app is a mobile or web application that offers a broad array of services, including social networking, e-commerce, marketplaces, and more. Some of the known examples are We Chat and Alipay in China, Tata Neu and Jio in India.

Let’s understand why are super apps trending and why businesses need it.

Three years ago, businesses focused more on releasing simple mobile apps for customers in order to gain market share. Well, now the focus has turned to retaining current consumers and capturing newly emerging segments. The new age-consumers-Gen Z (or Zoomers) prioritize convenience and an exceptional customer experience above everything else. Their lives revolve around technology and the digital world. They value speediness and an intuitive experience. What’s more intriguing about Zoomers is their attention span is merely 8 seconds! Super apps–a one-stop-shop- will give users the ability to navigate within the application and access plethora of services without downloading and installing separate apps for the same.

What’s different about the Super app?

In India, Paytm which initially started as a prepaid-mobile and DTH recharge platform now offers banking, e-commerce, ticket booking services, etc. Consumers’ favourite-Amazon and Flipkart are also transitioning to a similar model. TVS launched it’s connected car platform-myTVS Life360 to offer multi-brand services like maintenance, diagnostics, payments, insurance and more to passenger cars. Why? Because of the convenience it offers to organizations and consumers. Let’s look at some of the key benefits of switching to super apps: 

1. Increase Customer Acquisition: Super apps offer much more than standalone apps. With a multitude of services, users get a seamless experience without having to download multiple apps to avail of services. 

2. Improve Customer Stickiness: Customer Stickiness has become an essential benchmark for businesses to grow. Super apps can pave the way for brands to retain customers because of the convenience it offers. 

3. Saves phone storage and memory, as opposed to having multiple apps for different needs.

5. Businesses can gather a vast amount of consumer data using super apps. This data can be used to learn more about user behavior and analyze the trends and patterns to improve personalization and speed up consumer interaction.

6. Improve Customer Engagement: Companies can create personalized solutions for consumers and introduce new offerings. For eg, Tata Neu offers discounts and deals to their customers to engage customers.

Indian Super Apps that are making waves in the industry :

• Paytm: Paytm offers services like bill payments, mobile recharges, utility travel, movie and events bookings, in-store payments, payments, and more through their QR code system.
• Tata Neu: Tata Group launched a super app–Tata Neu which includes a bouquet of services like flight bookings, hotel bookings, car buying, groceries, investments, and more. It also provides offers on various in-house brands such as Starbucks, AirAsia India, Big Basket, Westside, 1mg, and other in-house brands. Users are rewarded for their purchases with Neu Coins, which can be redeemed the next time they buy.
• People Strong: APAC’s leading Human Capital Management SaaS platform-People Strong recently launched their super app that has functionalities of their 3 applications: ALT Learning (a user learning and growth platform), ALT Worklife (An HR app focused to simplify worklife), Zippi (a collaborative Work Management platform). Mantra Labs collaborated with People Strong to help them build an HR-based super app. The app has been downloaded by 1M+ users on the play store with 4.6 ratings.
• My Jio: A super app with all the Jio services offered by Jio from grocery to mobile recharges to video streaming and more.

Challenges Ahead:

Super apps have several advantages for businesses to maximize their profit which is why super apps are trending. However, there lies a significant challenge in developing an app that has the best user interface, and a fresh design for Gen Z. And losing even one customer may turn out to have severe repercussions for the organizations. Customers may not be able to trust their brand again incase of a poor experience. Here, technology will act as an enabler in building the best experience of tomorrow. Android 13, iOS 16, and 5G have been rolled out for users worldwide. Businesses are leveraging mixed reality in designing mobile applications to make the complete experience more immersive. This will undoubtedly help them to construct unique apps with a better UX and appeal for Gen Zs.

The Future:

Super apps have become a crucial part of people’s everyday lives all over the world because of its many advantages. Gartner expects that by 2027, more than 50% of the global population will be daily active users of multiple super apps. This concept might also include enterprise mobiles and desktop experiences, such as workflow, collaboration, and messaging platforms.

In 2022, ITC introduced MAARs to support the agribusiness sector. Rapi Pay bagged $15 billion in funding to launch their super app “NYE” in the digital banking space. The Indian government also announced the launch of a super app for farmers which will have everything they require in a single place. And with giants like Adani group and Reliance Jio planning to unveil their own super apps in 2023, the competition will get fierce. But what will make one super app different from another? Building a Super App will be a long-term venture that calls for significant financial outlays, business alliances, and commitment. It’ll be interesting to see how these companies design the UI/UX of their super apps. Well, the one that can keep the Zoomers hooked beyond 8 secs wins!