12 Rise of the super apps

Rise of the super apps

China exports its super-app formula to eager neighbors.

Even as China’s super apps come under a government anti-trust crackdown, their progeny abroad are going from strength to strength. Super apps offer multiple functions on a single seamless platform, from messaging to ecommerce to ridehailing to payments and financial services.

Indonesia’s Gojek started as a motorbike ride-hailing service to help people cut through Jakarta traffic and now delivers everything from food to medicine to masseurs. In 2021, in a deal valued at $18 billion, it announced it was merging with Tokopedia, the country’s largest online marketplace, which also offers fintech and logistics services. The combined entity, aptly named GoTo, has more than 100 million active users, 11 million merchants, two million drivers and revenue that represents 2% of Indonesia’s $1 trillion economy.

It’s not the only super app in the region. Singapore-headquartered Grab, which calls itself the “Everyday Everything app,” started with ride-hailing around Southeast Asia and swiftly added delivery, payments and financial services, landing a digital bank license with partner SingTel in 2020. Grab went public on the Nasdaq via the world’s largest special-purpose acquisition company deal, raising $4.5 billion, at the end of 2021.

GoTo and Grab boast marquee investors, including Chinese tech giants Alibaba, Tencent, Meituan and Didi Chuxing, as well as Facebook, Google, Sequoia, SoftBank, Google, and Singapore government fund Temasek.

In 2020, online commerce in Southeast Asia grew faster than in any other region, according to Forrester. Online sales expanded 53% to $50 billion, led by grocery commerce, which registered growth of 97%. Total online sales are expected to keep growing by double digits annually, to hit $143 billion in 2025. Why it’s interesting Chinese tech giants invested early in Southeast Asian platforms and exported many of the super-app concepts pioneered back home to their neighbors. As Chinese tech firms face increasing regulation, they are likely to look abroad more than ever for growth opportunities.

Indeed, consumers in many Southeast Asian countries appear readier than elsewhere for super apps that stitch together a plethora of services. According to Wunderman Thompson’s Future Shopper Survey 2021, eight out of 10 consumers in Thailand and Indonesia agree with the statement “I wish brands communicated with me seamlessly across different channels.”