Solving App Overload with an All-in-one Superapp

Over 2 billion smartphone users in Asia already live by them. More than half of Americans would prefer a single app that unites at least three of the ten activities that are a part of their daily routine (such as shopping, ridehailing, and banking). But what is making today’s smartphone users fixate on multipurpose apps?

Understanding the demand for superapps

Apps like Grab, WeChat, and Alipay are paving the way for a global rise of all-in-one apps. The success of these Asian superapps has led to apps like Uber, PayPal, and Bolt to follow the trend. Here’s why users love superapps:

1. They tackle app overload

Opening the app store is like “visiting an urban flea market.” Like a crowded bazaar, you scroll through the endless array of options only to find numerous low-priced goods that constantly grab your attention. Sorting through them to discover an app of value is not only a skill, but also a test of endurance. Setting them up and logging in is then an exercise in smartphone-induced torture.

With almost five million apps available on both the Play Store and the App Store, app overload is irritating, time-consuming, and even risky. First, users struggle to find the right app for one or more purposes. Second, information turns fragmented as it spreads across too many apps. Third, multiple logins and payment platforms increases the risk of cyberfraud.

Users get burnt out from browsing through the options and often lack the attention to research multiple apps. It’s no surprise, then, that a trusted app that offers the services you want will ultimately win. In other words, in an age of app overload, superapps can help combat decision fatigue, information fragmentation, and cyberfraud.

2. They streamline daily tasks

A study involving over 3,000 smartphone users found that two-thirds of smartphone users want a superapp - a single place to receive payments, manage money, and access their information.

Today’s superapps fulfill these daily needs by offering an umbrella of services from event ticket bookings to credit and loan services on the same platform. The progression of an app to a superapp follows these steps:

Step 1: Start with an app that is scalable but delivers a core function well.

Step 2: Integrate cashless payment methods directly from the app to make the experience more seamless.

Step 3: Partner with third parties to add additional services, ideally ones related to the core function.

Step 4: Leverage customer behaviour and loyalty to acquire more users and grow your services.

The key is to eliminate log-on hurdles, and speed up repetitive and mundane tasks. For example, do your users have to find change to pay for cab rides daily? Instead, they can scan a QR code sticker in the taxi from their phone to pay instantly. A superapp allows your users to have all functions in one place.

3. They fit users’ varying needs

Leveraging user preferences allows you to continually optimise the relationship with your users. The more services you provide to your users, the more data you generate, and the more tailored your customer offer will become.

Superapps are also ‘sticky’ because they leverage flexibility. Users are likely to stick to an app when given the benefit of customisation. Think of the numerous payment modes and ease of integrations Alipay, Grab and WeChat offer.  Once set up, users will opt for the superapp that gives the greatest number of payment options, and of services - even more so, if it is customised to their own usage patterns.

A noteworthy feat of customisation leveraged by Alipay and WeChat is the traditional Chinese ritual of hongbao: the tradition of gifting money, usually in a red envelope, to relatives during festivals. It is customary for a hongbao giver to write an auspicious or congratulatory message on the envelope. Using WeChat and Alipay’s flexible in-built features, relatives who cannot meet for celebrations in person can write messages using the apps and send their loved ones digital hongbao.

This simple integration has let users digitally share symbols of love and blessings in addition to the utility of sending money from anywhere.

Assemble app integrations seamlessly with Splyt.

The addictive combination of customisation, accessibility, and convenience has created an empire of loyal superapp users. However, this global shift in users’ app preferences does not come without difficulties. One of the core challenges for anybody looking to create a superapp is ensuring that new integrations are seamless and bug-free; Splyt can help.

Splyt enables you to integrate features like ridehailing, airport transfers, and food delivery using SDKs and APIs, eliminating the need for any external interface.

Using Splyt’s Software Development Kits (SDKs), you can seamlessly install new programs and tools onto a native platform. In addition, SDKs resolve the issue of external installation runtime as they are comprehensive installation kits containing code, libraries, and documentation needed to download a program.

Splyt also offers Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that serve as application files that ‘latch onto’ native software. APIs can help improve seamless integration and add customisation to your programs.

With critical, on-demand services on a single platform, your superapp can draw in more users, generate more revenue, and offer users a streamlined experience.