In 2021, people across the globe collectively spent 3.8 trillion hours and USD 170 billion on mobile apps. That's a lot of time and a lot of money. It's no surprise that many businesses are focusing their efforts on building great mobile user experiences and inevitably, looking towards super apps.
Even Elon Musk, the billionaire tech executive who bought Twitter (now X), wants to turn the social media platform into an "everything app". It's no surprise that his sights are set in that direction: research company Gartner predicts that, by 2027, 50% of the global population will use super apps daily.
In many Asian countries, though, super apps are already a fact of everyday life.
Simply put, a super app is a mobile app that offers a wide range of services and functions within a single platform.
While traditional apps focus on one function, say fitness tracking or banking, super apps integrate multiple services — think messaging, e-commerce, payments, food delivery, transportation, entertainment and more. They're like the Swiss Army knife of the digital age, reshaping how we live, work and transact.
The term "super app" was credited to Blackberry founder Mike Lazaridis in 2010, but real-life super apps didn't come about until later in Asia — China, to be precise. One of the early super apps was Alipay, developed by Ant Group. Alipay began as a payment platform to facilitate transactions on Alibaba's e-commerce site Taobao. Eventually, it began offering services like wealth management, insurance and various kinds of lifestyle services.
Super apps then slowly began to take hold in different markets, such as Singapore-based Grab and South Korean company Kakao.
Like many great ideas, super apps evolved due to necessity. In the 90s, Asia lagged behind the rest of the world in Internet penetration. This changed in 2001 as infrastructure caught up. Internet penetration accelerated further after 2007 , the year the iPhone was launched.
By 2014, mobile phone penetration had overtaken computer penetration for the first time in Asia, especially in Southeast Asia, as phones were much more affordable than laptops and computers. That same year, Asia led the world not only in smartphone use but also in having the highest rate of Internet users who went online only through mobile phones.
Put simply, Asian consumers had begun to embrace a mobile-first lifestyle.
A mobile-first approach thus became the default way of launching a tech product — anything from photo-sharing to food delivery apps.
At the same time, alternative mobile payment systems and digital wallets emerged to serve Asia's large unbanked population and poor credit and debit card penetration. These apps, along with offline-to-online services like ride-hailing platforms, created the foundation for many super apps today.
Digital wallets or e-wallets have since become a convenient way for Asian shoppers to pay for purchases both online and offline. Even food street vendors in Vietnam, convenience store owners in the Philippines, and tuktuk drivers in Thailand accept e-wallet payments. So do huge supermarket chains, hotels and utility service providers.
The addition of payments to super apps truly made them "everything apps" — users didn't need to leave the interface to pay for anything they did or bought through the app.
With multiple services in one interface, super apps offer unparalleled convenience and efficiency. Instead of switching from one app to another, users can simply open one app and get everything done in a few taps.
That's a lot of time saved and hassle avoided.
For instance, you can pay your bills, order food, book a flight, buy movie tickets, get insurance and more — all within Alipay.
What do these super apps look like? Here are some examples of companies that grew from standalone apps into super apps.
With over 1 billion users, Alipay is one of the most popular super apps in the world. It was established in 2004 as a payment service for Alibaba's online marketplace. Since then, Alipay has evolved into a multifunctional super app.
Today, Alipay is used for payments, fund transfers to friends and family, financial management including budgeting, ride-hailing, food delivery, hotel bookings, movie ticket purchases and more.
With 32.6 million monthly transacting users across Southeast Asia, Grab has evolved from a ride-hailing service to a super app powerhouse. It operates in eight countries including Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines.
For many Southeast Asians, Grab has become an indispensable app for transportation, food delivery and financial services. They use it not just in their home country but also when they travel within the region.
Grab also integrates with e-wallets from outside the region. For instance, someone from Korea who's traveling to Singapore can download Grab and link it to their Kakao Pay wallet. They can then use Grab the way locals would.
Kakao has evolved from a simple messaging platform into a multifaceted ecosystem that integrates essential services into the daily lives of millions. In South Korea, KakaoTalk has 46 million monthly active users or 88% of the nation's population.
Building upon its success in messaging, Kakao expanded its offerings to include mobile payments, ride-hailing, shopping and gaming. In addition to South Korea, Kakao has grown its reach to other Asian markets, including Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Super apps are appealing because they remove the friction between purchase intent and cart checkout. By offering financial services, super apps give users that extra convenience of finishing their transactions in one go.
Merchants also benefit from being part of a super app. Say you want to sell goods from your online store to consumers in Asia. Integrating into the super app ecosystem lets you reach a massive user base almost immediately.
One way to do this is by integrating the super app's payment method into your checkout process. Typically, the app would have its own native payments feature but would also allow users to link other e-wallets, their bank accounts, and their credit cards within the super app. By allowing your customers to pay for their purchases through their super app, you're giving them the freedom to choose the payment method they want. In the process, you're removing a common cause of cart abandonment — the lack of choice and flexibility in payment methods.
With more and more people relying on super apps, becoming part of the ecosystem is now more compelling than ever. If you're contemplating a move to Asia, super apps are a way to break into this highly mobile-dependent market.
We can help you do that. By partnering with Antom, you can tap into an ecosystem of 250 payment methods, including those belonging to the most popular super apps in Asia – including Alipay, KakaoPay, GrabPay and more. That's access to a combined user base of 1.5 billion consumers. Whether you're looking to expand your reach in Asia or enhance your payment capabilities, our team of experts is here to help.