Big tech, by chance or by design, relies on so-called “tech crazes” to keep itself fresh and innovative. Think of things like 3D, web-3, crypto, NFTs, VR/AR, and nowadays AI. However, you might not have heard of super apps. Despite gaining some traction, they never fully became a mainstream trend.
This trend originated in Asia where apps like WeChat, Grab, and Gojek reign supreme. It’s actually hard to call them apps as they are gigantic ecosystems that let users chat, shop, hail rides, order food, and even manage their finances, all within a single app.
Western tech giants like Uber, PayPal, and even Apple started experimenting with super-app-like strategies, bundling more and more services under one umbrella. Elon Musk was dead set on transforming Twitter into a super app long before he turned his interest to AI and politics.
But even though super apps continue to thrive in Asia, they haven’t exactly emerged in the Western world. So what happened, and what can you as a product manager learn from them? This article covers all of that and more.
A super app is a single platform that combines multiple services into one, integrated ecosystem. Instead of a user needing to have a different app for each task they want to perform, a super app lets them accomplish everything they need in a single place.
Super apps rely on three key ingredients for success:
Super apps don’t start out as such. They normally start out as a service with a single core function that gets crazy engagement and a lot of users.
WeChat started as a messaging app and ultimately expanded into payments, ecommerce, and other services. Grab and Gojek began with ride-hailing before adding food delivery, financial services, and even healthcare options.
The versatile nature of super apps doesn’t come from stacking features on top of each other. Instead, they integrate services seamlessly so that each function complements the others. For example, in Gojek, ride-hailing customers naturally become food delivery customers because the same driver can handle both.
The more services a super app provides, the harder it is for users to leave. If WeChat is your chat app, payment processor, and shopping platform, why would you ever switch? This is the exact same reason why it’s so hard to switch from iOS to Android once you commit to the ecosystem.
WeChat was first released in China in 2011 as a messaging app. It has since evolved into an ecosystem that, one could say, runs the digital part of the People’s Republic.
What makes WeChat truly remarkable isn’t just its scale (over 1.3 billion monthly active users), but the fact it manages to have it all. Within a single app, users can chat with friends, send money, hail a ride, book doctor’s appointments, pay utility bills, apply for loans, shop online, and even file for divorce (yes, really).
The secret to WeChat’s dominance lies in its Mini Programs. These are third-party apps that function inside WeChat itself, eliminating the need to download separate apps. Businesses of all sizes build services directly within WeChat, making it the default gateway to digital commerce in China.
More importantly, WeChat isn’t just a super app; it’s the super app that sets the gold standard. That makes it a prime case study for product managers worldwide and likely the original reason super apps almost became the next tech craze.
However, despite its massive success, no Western company has been able to replicate WeChat’s model.
It’s not a secret that tech ecosystems and the legal circumstances differ in Asia and the West. The biggest reasons super apps haven’t taken off in the West include:
In Asia, mobile-first adoption, high fragmentation, and lower credit card penetration created the perfect conditions for super apps to thrive.
On the other hand in the U.S. and Europe, the situation is quite different. Visa, Mastercard, and PayPal dominated the digital payments market. Alongside this, Google and Apple control app distribution and set strict rules that make it hard for a single app to integrate everything.
Western governments penalize monopolistic behavior. Super apps, by definition, consolidate multiple industries into one platform. Such an approach wouldn’t be tolerated by antitrust regulators.
For example, Google is currently awaiting a sentence in a court case it lost for acting as a monopoly in the internet search domain. Similar concerns delayed Microsoft from buying Blizzard Entertainment for months.
Asian users clearly have a higher tolerance for all-in-one platforms, whereas Western consumers prefer specialized apps. In China, WeChat Pay became the dominant form of payment because mobile wallets were a natural step forward in a cash-heavy society.
In the U.S., most consumers already have credit cards and Apple Pay. Introducing a new app, super or specialized, against such an established competitor doesn’t look super promising.
Apple and Google enforce strict policies that make it difficult for a single app to dominate multiple categories. On Android in China, super apps could flourish because Google Play didn’t have the same level of control. However, in markets where Apple’s App Store rules, trying to create a one-stop-shop app gets blocked very quickly.
Although the West doesn’t have super apps, a number of companies come close to operating like them.
While operating systems aren’t really apps, they could be considered “super” in the context of this article. Both have gigantic user bases and adoption, offer all the different services with multiple providers, and are attached to the phone you carry most of the time. They also take a percentage of any transaction made using those devices.
Uber started as an alternative taxi app, but it has slowly evolved into something much more. With Uber Eats, it extended its logistics backbone into food delivery, using its driver network to keep cars on the road even when demand for rides was low. Then came freight and logistics, tapping into the commercial transport sector.
Now, Uber is even experimenting with banking and financial services for drivers, offering debit cards, cash advances, and earnings management tools. The goal? To entrench itself as the default infrastructure for all things transportation, ensuring that whether you’re moving people, goods, or money, Uber is the platform handling it.
PayPal may have started as a digital wallet but now it’s being transformed into a financial ecosystem designed to cover everything from payments to lending. After acquiring Venmo to dominate the peer-to-peer payments space, PayPal expanded into crypto, buy-now-pay-later (BNPL), and credit solutions.
The company is now focused on integrating all these services into a single, seamless user experience. While it’s not a super app in the WeChat sense, PayPal’s steady expansion into different financial verticals mirrors the same strategy: owning as many touch points as possible in the user’s economic life.
Amazon doesn’t exist as a single app on your phone, but it might be the closest thing to a Western super app spread across different services. What started as an online bookstore is now a vast commerce empire that includes retail, cloud computing (AWS), video streaming (Prime Video), groceries (Whole Foods), and smart home devices (Alexa). The major benefit of Amazon’s ecosystem is that every product and service feeds into one another.
Even if you’re not building the next WeChat, super app principles are incredibly valuable for product management. Here are some key takeaways:
A single app doesn’t need to handle everything to be great. The reason WeChat works isn’t just because it offers a hundred services. It’s because it executes them exceptionally well within an ecosystem that makes sense for its users.
Rather than bloating your product by adding new features for the sake of expansion, focus on seamless integration. The best products aren’t just functional; they feel effortless to use. If you’re in fintech, maybe that means instant cross-platform payments. If you’re in ecommerce, it could mean a frictionless checkout experience.
Too many companies try to scale before they’ve perfected their foundation. If you’re struggling with churn, engagement, or retention, adding more features won’t fix it. Get to the point where users can’t imagine their lives without your product before you expand.
Super apps are, at their core, vertical expansion success stories. They start with one dominant service and then grow into other markets. If you’re looking for expansion opportunities, don’t just tack on random features. Instead, ask:
For example, Amazon didn’t launch AWS out of nowhere. It built on internal infrastructure that was already handling massive cloud workloads. The best expansion is a natural extension of what you’re already doing great.
The reason super apps thrive isn’t because of how many features they have, it’s because they are insanely user-centric. They remove friction, simplify everyday tasks, and make life easier for their users.
Remember, great product management isn’t about adding features. It’s about solving problems in the best possible way. Super apps succeed because they make services so convenient that users don’t want to leave. Just like Apple does with its ecosystem.
So before you start dreaming of building your own “super app,” ask yourself:
In Poland, we have a saying that goes: “If something is for everything then it’s for nothing.” This is different from the more widely known: “A jack of all trades is a master of none,” which is an abbreviated version of the full quote that also includes: “but oftentimes better than a master of one.”
Super apps exist in Asia because they make sense there. Rather than following a failed tech craze, it’s better to simply focus on building the best possible product, whether that means super specialization or super expansion.
Featured image source: IconScout
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