2020 has forced enterprises to rethink and re-evaluate their business challenges and opportunities. The role of digital experiences is even more critical for enterprises as consumers interact with mobile apps for everything from ordering groceries to payments to watching video streaming services. Mary Meeker’s recent COVID-19 impact report suggests that businesses doing the best, have products that were always in demand but especially so in uncertain times – and that list now includes entertainment.

In this scenario, apps that can help consumers accomplish a multitude of tasks – also known as Super Apps have gained currency. Such apps were popular even prior to the COVID-19 outbreak especially in South and Southeast Asia – where consumers took to mobiles as their first entry to the online world as opposed to a gradual shift from desktops, laptops, and mobiles as seen in the western world.

Super Apps was a term introduced in 2010, by BlackBerry founder Mike Lazaridis. He described Super Apps as a closed ecosystem of multiple apps used on a daily basis due to their ease of use. In today’s world, Super Apps are a combination of functions like social, financial, utility services, and entertainment integrated into one app. We have seen food delivery apps extending to grocery deliveries and offering video recipes, cab aggregator apps evolving into food delivery, and payment apps encompassing everything from e-commerce to news. This phenomenon will only rise rapidly in the near future.

Why Super Apps are popular – the consumer’s perspective

A recent KPMG report suggests one of the major driving forces for the rise of Super Apps at a global level is the shift in consumer behavior and preferences. Specialist apps focused on delivering one service well– which led to a proliferation of apps in a device. After nearly a decade of fragmentation and unbundling of services in their lives — consumers are starting to revert towards re-bundling, says the report.

Of course, consumers are not specifically stating that they need a Super App. However, the shifts in their demands from a digital solution are leading to the rise of such apps. Here are a few such shifts:

• Convenience and simplicity of digital platforms: ease of use, and convenience play a critical role in the acceptance of any digital solution. Super Apps helps enterprises offer that.

• Choosing one-stop-shops vs plethora of apps: ‘there’s an app for that’ was a popular saying. There are apps available from banks, bank-like neo banks, telcos, digital wallets, ride-sharing, food delivery, and so on – leading to app fatigue. In fact, a recent Clevertap study suggests that most users haven’t downloaded a single app in a 3-month period. And, it is a known fact that smartphone users spend most of their screen time on just 5 apps. Integrating all those most used 5 apps into one single Super App is definitely a win-win proposition for the user and the business.

• A unified user experience: in a digital world user experience can be the key driver for retaining and engaging with the user. Super Apps can provide a uniform and individual user experiences across offers.

• Save phone memory &internet usage: On an average, a smartphone may have about 30 apps with only a handful of apps being used regularly. Adding more specialist apps – thus affecting device storage is a problem for most users. Hence, an ‘app which does it all’ is seen in a positive light. It is also seen as a productivity aid as it reduces the time to complete tasks, as users no more need to download multiple apps for different services. It saves phone memory and mobile data. These are two important factors while serving customers in emerging markets and engaging them.

• Data from Super Apps helps to offer personalized customer experience: a Super App can be a repository to a wealth of data from various services it offers. Brands can use analytics, track consumer habits, and offer an effective and personalized experience.

The rise of Super Apps and why they make business sense

The rise of Super Apps started in Southeast Asia and is now becoming a worldwide phenomenon. The success of the Cplatfor like WeChat and Alipay is encouraging the rest of the world to tap into this opportunity. Recently, Yahoo Japan’s parent Z Corp. merged with LINE, a popular chat app in Japan, Taiwan, and Thailand to develop super-app models for both brands.

In India, our client Paytm rose from being a payments app to becoming a Super App and offer a range of services such as bill payments, movie ticketing, e-commerce and now contactless food ordering [users can scan restaurant menus through the app, place and orders and pay the bill thus maintaining social distancing]. In a recent interview, Vijay Shekhar Sharma, the founder of Paytm said, ‘Customers on our app should complete as much as their day’s tasks’. The merits of this approach is plain to see – make the app a single destination for a multitude of needs and tasks. Recently, we also worked with one of the leading e-commerce players of India to integrate insurance aggregator services on their platform.

In Indonesia, Go-Jekhas emerged from a ride-sharing platform to offering a range of services like food delivery, medical advice, and financial products. According to Go-Jek, ‘the biggest moat Go-Jek built is payments. Once you’re handling money for a user, you can build a castle of services within it.’ Such Super Apps leverage their existing infrastructure in innovative ways like using their ride-share drivers as bank tellers.

In India too, we are seeing such apps gaining investor’s attention – Tencent has the most prolific India portfolio including Ola, Flipkart, Swiggy, etc. Softbank, which backs Paytm and Ola in India, has also invested in Grab.

The much-revered Mary Meeker’s 2019 internet trends report cites how local services are evolving into super apps that fuel usage at scale. One such example is Meituan, an on-demand delivery platform with 412 million annual users, growing at 26% year over year. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of consumers have turned to the platform to order non-food items – understandably spiking the company’s confidence that food delivery service will become the infrastructure service for China’s urban population. In India, Meituan-Dianping has also invested in the local food delivery service – Swiggy. Another such example is Alibaba’s Alipay which has become a Super App with services that support payments for more than 1 billion users.

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Besides the shifts in consumer behavior, another factor that has led to the growth of Super Apps is the blurring of boundaries between industries. A digital wallet platform has emerged as a competitor for e-commerce players, a ride-sharing platform can be a competitor for delivery apps, and so on.

The growth of the platform economy has also led to the flourishing of Super Apps. Super Apps like Grab, WeChat, Alipay, Go-Jek, Paytm, Kakao, Line in Japan, or Rappi in South America, are examples of the platform business model.

In fact, the most valuable companies in the world – Facebook, Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Tencent, and Alibaba incorporated the platform business model years ago. The acceleration of this trend has led to enterprises shifting away from a single-purpose to multipurpose apps, resulting in the rise of the Super Apps.

Some organizations are also integrating their offers to break away from dependencies on third-party platforms. For instance – Ikea is breaking away from Amazon and is working on building its own platform. While some enterprises are partnering with existing payers to build Super Apps for e.g. Berkshire Hathaway and JP Morgan have together launched a healthcare venture with Amazon.

It is evident that Super Apps make sense in the current world and the world to be, especially for enterprises that already have the infrastructure to evolve into one, with minimal resource and cost implications. And, we have seen that happening with the likes of platforms like Zomato, Swiggy, etc which quickly adapted to essential services delivery platforms from being food platforms.

Recently, our client Noon.com, one of the leading online marketplaces of Middle East, launched Noon Daily, a next-day fresh grocery delivery service in Dubai, via the noon App. The launch of the app was accelerated in the current situation with pre-payment and contact-less silent delivery features. We have also partnered with the client to launch their mobile wallet app – ‘Noon Pay’ which will make payments easier for their customers, hence closing the entire loop from ordering to payments.

Here’s how Super Apps can help enterprises in business growth

1. Revenue earned through transactions on the apps’ marketplaces and platforms.
2. Scope of partnership with various merchants to provide their services on the app;  introduce and monetize credit to consumers, agents, and merchants.
3. Revenue growth by allowing advertising capabilities on the platform.
4. Super Apps can help enter new markets/geographies: the only prerequisite being identifying user’s pain points, provide great customer service, provide add-on offers and services on the same app, and do all of this seamlessly across geographies and industries.
5. Lower product ownership and development costs: Most of the ‘mini-apps’ on WeChat were not developed in-house, but created through integration by companies who wanted to conduct business with WeChat’s immense user base. Most ‘super apps’ follow the platform-based approach to scale their products. In fact, WeChat opened its ecosystem in 2017 for developers to create mini-programs that work within the WeChat ecosystem. LINE has done something similar with mini-apps

As rightly pointed by Cristian Citu, the World Economic Forum’s Digital Transformation Lead:

“Today if you smartly combine established and emerging technologies with a data-driven and customer-centric approach organizations have a major opportunity for exponential growth”.

The same stands true for enterprises entering into the arena of Super Apps.

Key points to consider while building Super Apps

• Start with a core product with high engagement and then build more use cases – Most Super Apps started as single-purpose apps and extended their services after acquiring a substantial user base. WeChat, after accumulating a large customer base with its instant messaging service, introduced new features to its users, such as its own payment method, house rental, and ride-hailing services. Subsequently, the platform gained new users beyond the initial ones.

• Have a supply-side economy of scale-like Uber, GoJek, Grab, Lyft, Swiggy – Go-Jek leveraged their success as a transport service and later offered more services to their existing clients. Similarly, the likes of Grab and Uber used their stronghold in supply-side services in transportation to later offer additional services to their clients.

• Understand the needs of the users, the market, and the economy before extending services – The success of apps in the Asian markets have been also largely driven due to the large number of the unbanked population in these geos. According to the World Bank, only 27% of the population in Asia has a bank account.  With their integrated wallet feature, super-apps have been welcomed by this huge unbanked population in emerging countries. This might not be the case in the western markets, like the United States, where credit cards provide a great ease in making payments.

• Build strong partnerships and ecosystems – Cross-industry partnerships can also be a determining factor for the success of Super Apps. For instance, Grab, the ride-hailing company headquartered in Singapore and with heavy market presence across the SEA region acquired the local sub-division of Uber and UberEats. At the same time, Grab also started paving its way towards payments and invested in OVO, a popular payment platform in Indonesia.

Super Apps – yay or nay for your enterprise?

While building a Super App might seem like a promising idea, however, it might not be the right strategy for every business. Some factors that companies should consider before making this leap:

• Cost, time, and resource consideration: the cost, resources, and time involved in building a Super Apps is relatively higher when compared to creating a single-purpose app. Business leaders should consider and ensure their business priorities align with the need for a Super App.

• User experience: a single-purpose app can sometimes offer a great experience that might get diluted with the integration of multiple services, if not done well. If your business is ready to create and offer a similar or better experience through a Super App, it might hamper your core business and brand.

• Specificity of the services: many businesses offer multiple services under one brand.For instance under Facebook – there’s a social media app, a messaging app, Instagram and WhatsApp. However, every app is a separate entity because they serve very distinct purposes. If your services are too specific and distinct in might not make sense to integrate them into one platform. Alipay made several unsuccessful forays into social networking/chat. WeChat too faltered in its attempt at direct e-commerce.

In conclusion

The Southeast Asian markets have seen tremendous growth and the rise of Super Apps. With the rise in the number of internet and smartphone users, this trend will only see further growth. However, enterprises have a long way to go when it comes to capturing western markets which are digitally mature, and regulatory norms are way more stringent. Enterprises like Uber have already led the way to Super Apps in these markets and initiated offering services like food delivery, ticketing with Uber Transit, and payment services with Uber Money. Irrespective of the market and geographies it will be critical for enterprises to consider the why, what, and how of their Super App strategy before taking the leap.

India is uniquely placed – both as a consumer market and as a hub for crafting Super Apps for the world. Our experience in crafting digital solutions that simplify lives for millions around the globe will help enterprises realize the superpower of Super Apps.  

The ongoing global crisis arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic has taken its toll in many ways – thousands of lives have been lost and the world has been disrupted like never before.  Enterprises have been forced to adapt to new ways of functioning and employees are also discovering the pressures of working under severe constraints. Several industries like travel, traditional retail, hotels, MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions) and more are affected adversely. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development says the world economy will go into recession this year with a predicted loss of global income in trillions of dollars.

Clearly, we are heading into an age of uncertainty on many fronts. Even after the COVID-19 crisis is over, which I hope is sooner than later, the impact of the crisis on our mindset and behavior will be long-lasting. In the coming months, focusing on customer experience will be even more critical for enterprises.

Empathy: the need now – more than ever

Over the last few years, experience with digital channels reveals how critical understanding user behavior has become. Consumers have faced anxiety over e-commerce deliveries, availability of products on retail shelves, health care services and more. In many parts of the world, consumers have become more frugal towards spending. Such behavioral changes will have an impact even after the crisis. It is critical for enterprises to gauge consumer mood by displaying empathy – a key trait of the Design Thinking process. How does it feel to be in the shoes of a restaurant-goer or an airline traveler when such services resume? What will be their pain points and how can enterprises address them?

Remote-working is also expected to change the way we work in the near future. Lack of shared physical space and human interaction while working from home has its downsides too. Digital-only interactions in a non-working environment where distractions are possible can lead to poor attention spans and even create mistrust (as not all activities are monitored physically). Such subtle mindset changes can affect collaborative environments later. As work & personal life can get an overlap while working from home, employees are conscious of the need to demarcate them and find time for personal hobbies like reading. When they get back to things as they were, they may resent it if work eats into their personal lives.

On social media, we see posts about how the lockdowns have triggered a behavioral change. Binge-watching streaming services, playing more games on the mobile phone or a digital detox through voracious reading, pursuing hobbies like singing or playing musical instruments are some of the ways in which people are coping with the change. It remains to be seen how ‘back to normal’ will affect mindsets and behaviors.

The impact on key domains and CX

Fintech: the crisis triggered by COVID-19 had a big impact on share markets and thus, investors. It is a grim reminder of the unpredictable nature of our lives which is likely to impact those who interact with banks & fintech products through digital products. They might seek more transparency and re-assurance from fintech brands with regards to their money being safe.

Travel, hospitality & tourism: many countries have banned domestic flights, trains, and buses. Brands in the industry face a huge decline in revenues. When lockdowns are lifted and the industry is open for business, brands may need to provide incentives for consumers to travel without fear. Consumers may have planned for trips which may have led to the cancellation. Creative incentive schemes to defer their plans and not cancel them may have to be devised and communicated. Hotels may have to stress upon hygiene factors to reassure guests. The booking experience and notifications may have to be thought of afresh given the above.

Healthcare & wellness: telemedicine is being adopted aggressively by hospitals for doctor consultation in the age of social distancing. Phone, text and video consultation is already available on apps such as MDLive, Lemonaid in the US and DocsApp in India have made the concept familiar to many. But as many new patients come into this fold, especially the senior citizens, they may need to be educated on how to use the platform well. This will have an impact on on-boarding, walk-throughs and the user interface of the app itself.  Mental wellness has also gained focus as people struggle to cope up with the stress of possible health issues, isolation, and fear of job loss. In the months to come, consumers may have to be encouraged to continue with the habit of using apps & other digital experiences to help calm nerves down.

E-commerce and Supply Chain: As the world increasingly adopts to shopping, food & grocery delivery through native apps, the impact is not just on robust engineering which can take on huge surges in demand but also on intelligent, empathetic UI and a whole new opportunity in communication.

“While it was said that the 3 most important criteria for success in traditional retail were ‘location, location and location’ in the era of social distancing, it could very well be ‘supply chain, supply chain, and supply chain”.

Supply Chain and its impact on customer experience will play a big role in the days to come. Enterprises would need to set up systems that can provide real-time actionable insights, analytics, and reports, all through a single, intuitive dashboard. Emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence will play a role in demand forecasting, production planning and order fulfillment – which eventually matters most to the end consumer.

Industries such as entertainment, OTT will also be well advised to adopt design thinking practices to understand the evolving consumer needs and tailor-make a customer experience.

Digital experiences as a competitive edge

Digital channels, over the last few years, have overcome the trust deficit and emerged as a secure and reliable way of transacting. The ongoing global crisis arising out of the COVID-19 pandemic has got industries to lean further on these channels. Social distancing norms have dented approaches that depended on person-to-person interactions and necessitated leanings towards digital. And the race to acquire more customers via this channel and to subsequently, retain them, is on.

At the same time, consumers are getting choosy and lack patience.  Loyalty is becoming difficult to earn. Self-discovery is emerging as a clear preference among the millennials.  Hence, providing a superior experience that hand-holds consumers to achieve precisely their intended purpose quickly, in the simplest manner, is becoming the keystone of the digital journey.

Clearly, we are heading into an age of uncertainty on many fronts. Even after the COVID-19 crisis is over, which I hope is sooner than later, the impact of the crisis on the economy and  how we interact with stakeholders will be long-lasting. In the coming months, focusing on customer experience will be even more critical for enterprises.

The current times call for brands to shift focus from individual transactions to building customer relationships grounded in empathy, collaboration, transparency, trust, and care. With the world inclining towards digital, enterprises across industries need to rethink their digital strategies that can have a profound impact on the customer experience. Acknowledging changing customer behaviors and being able to ease their fears, instill confidence by prioritizing customer experiences that are embedded in empathy is the way forward.

Such scenarios across diverse industries present unique challenges in understanding consumer mindset and how it affects their interactions and behavior toward brands. Enterprises may well be advised to invest more in design thinking processes in the coming months. While none of us can predict what the world beyond COVID-19 is going to look like, customer experience will clearly be one of the key differentiators for brands looking to garner customer loyalty.

What does a CXO in a global OTT streaming powerhouse have in common with a counterpart in a FinTech company? While target audience and market dynamics maybe different for every category there is a common factor: we all have to craft business strategies in a digital world. However, are all enterprises on a level playground when it comes to making the most of human capital and digital technologies?

According to PwC’s Consumer Intelligence Series, while Industry 4.0 or the Fourth Industrial Revolution (commonly known as 4IR) ‘may be everywhere, not everyone is yet fully on board’ to thrive in this digital revolution. We may never achieve a situation where all enterprises are equally adept at crafting delightful digital experiences by effectively using emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, data analytics, blockchain and more.

In my interactions with CXOs across various industries, I have observed three common challenges which all enterprises – irrespective of domain, B2B or B2C, have to grapple with:

1. Human insight as compliment to technology 

Is technology everything? Is effective use of code, blockchain or voice technology a true long-term advantage? In my view, no. Nothing can replace the intuitive nature of human interaction and insight gathered from such. HBR defines an insight as ‘an imaginative understanding of an internal or external opportunity that can be tapped to improve efficiency, generate revenue, or boost engagement’.

In my experience as a student of Design Thinking, what has created the most impact in outcomes is empathizing with end consumers – what makes a person tick, what brings a smile and what gives a satisfyingly delightful experience – making a person feel productive and empowered. Such insights, when married with the right technology have the power to drive loyalty and thus impact a business financially. The fields of epistemology, ontology and psychology (the science of knowledge, being and behavior respectively) play a key role in gaining user insights. These sciences help us understand:

• How the emotional and rational brains work
• How the sub-conscious mind works
• How humans make decisions
• The power of strangers, reviews, ratings and public commitment
• The bystander effect
• The ‘give to get more’ principle
• How to harness a refusal for sale
• How to tap into the reptilian brain for snap decisions
• How to keep the user entertained through gamification
• How to balance color, motion, images, premium slots, information, etc. online
• Usage of powerful words in English dictionary

2. Digital expertise as competitive advantage 

Back in 2018, many industry leaders declared ‘all companies are technology companies now’.  BCG described it as ‘a capacity to capture and capitalize on vast lakes of customer and other data and ultimately the capability to create digitally enabled market-leading goods and services.’ It made sense as what powers diverse businesses such as food delivery, vacation rooms, e-commerce, media or banking was technology. Technology was utilized to understand consumer behavior and help craft product or service offerings. Over the last couple of years a few macro trends have added new dimensions to this state of affairs.

• Firstly, genuine service or product differentiation has become even more difficult to achieve. Customer experience – the catch-all phrase covering digital and human interactions often ends up being the differentiator.

• Today’s consumers are brutally unforgiving. A poor website experience, a service issue unattended or a malfunctioning app is enough to lose a customer forever. Retention is the new growth. Understanding user psychology and analyzing user data during their online engagement is key.

In this context, for most businesses, digital expertise – the ability to apply machine learning and design thinking principles together becomes a key competitive advantage.

3. Purpose for profit

Brand purpose has become a buzz phrase over the last few years – with varying degrees of success. In my view, enterprises need to define a higher order benefit or a value which they stand for. However, such a goal has to be genuine, hard wired to the business the enterprise is in and matched by real, on-ground efforts. Doordash is not just a delivery company – it defines itself as ‘technology company that connects people with the best in their cities. We do this by empowering local businesses and in turn, generate new ways for people to earn, work and live’. They back this intent with initiatives like Project DASH (DoorDash Acts for Sustainability and Hunger), focused on tackling the problems of hunger and food waste in the local communities they serve. At Robosoft we have defined our higher purpose as “Simplifying lives” of billions of citizens globally through technology and human-centered design. Our engineers, designers and product analysts wake up every morning motivated to make a difference and simplify lives of users of the apps we build; simplifying the way citizens buy, sell, transact, bank, pay, get entertained, get insured, consume, order, travel and what not.

Design Thinking principles and understanding consumer insights can also help enterprises craft their higher order purpose and bake that larger idea into not only the products & services they craft but also in the way their employees deal with customers – becoming second nature to the company itself.

This article was originally published at Linkedin Pulse under my LinkedIn handle – Ravi Teja Bommireddipalli