In our preliminary hour of research, we were able to identify a number of strategies that could be used to improve competitive advantage and defend a frim's leadership position in the super app market. Below are some of our findings:
Strategic Partnerships
- Super apps all over the world are increasingly relying on strategic partnerships to capture and retain market share. Globally, super apps are adding more unique services to their core processes in order to deliver frictionless user-experiences tailored for mobile-first consumers.
- Grab, an Asia-based super app, has begun expanding its core services in the past year. According to a recent article, the company believes that strategic partnership is key to improving revenue streams and growing user base. In addition to its core service as the third-largest ride-hailing service in the world, the super app has successfully expanded its services with the addition of hotel bookings and ticket purchasing capabilities.
- Some of Grab's recent partnerships include Accor Live Limitless, a hospitality service, and Telenav, a leading provider of connected-car and location-based services.
Innovate
- Super apps at their core are basically payment systems. There are a number of ways to innovate after helping consumers solve their payment issues. According to Sidu Ponnappa," Once you are handling money for a user, you can build a castle of services." Sidu is the Senior Vice President of Engineering at Gojek, Indonesia's leading super app.
- Rapyd, a global fintech company, recently outlined a number of ways super apps could innovate to defend and increase their market share. These include introducing and monetizing credit to consumers and agents, offering cross-border payment capabilities for consumers and businesses, earning fees and commissions on transactions, and using rewards to grow loyalty and transaction frequency.