Undeniably smartphones have become the fifth basic necessity of life. In the present era of digital transformation, smartphones play crucial roles in the everyday life of people because they have many functions that suit lifestyles. With a smartphone, life is easier in all its activities including those related to entertainment, work, food orders and financial transactions.

Thailand is the biggest market of smartphones in ASEAN and thus its application market is growing in popularity. There is an endless variety of applications that business organizations and tech startups have actively developed for their gain. They hope applications will make them high-flying and popular in markets. This is the reason why there is fierce competition among applications to win users’ heart.

What is super-app?

Super-app is also known as everyday app. It is the application that gathers all services and has considerable features to serve users who will not have to leave for another application for services like bill payment, purchase and food orders. Supper-apps are developed for users to use them every day. Application developers are trying to upgrade their applications to super-apps.

An example of super-apps developed overseas is Alipay which is an application for convenient payment. Users can pay for products and services right when they scan QR codes. It is also connected to partners to create many other ecosystems including those for ride-hailing, investment and life insurance as well as movie, restaurant, air ticket and hotel reservations. Another example is WeChat which began as a chat application before having new features that let users do any transactions they want within a single app.

In Thailand, many companies are ready to develop super-apps. One of them is LINE which was introduced as a chat app and later launched many other services including LINE TV, LINE TODAY, LINE MAN and LINE PLAY. New services have been regularly added and all of them can be accessed via the LINE app.

3 merits of super-apps unavailable with general apps

An article in the EverydayMarket.co website lists benefits for super-app users as follows.

1. It is easier, faster and less risky to launch new digital products

Super-apps end concern about the number of newly downloaded apps because they are developed on existing apps. The risk of having no users is minimal. There is no need to start the accumulation of users’ data over again. Promotions can be announced with impressive messages at launches.

2. Ecosystems are stronger because parties want to participate in further improving super-apps

Open application programming interfaces (API) allow other parties to create new features of apps and app owners benefit from the partnerships free of charge.

3. The costs of financial transactions are reduced

Super-apps already have the data of users and do not need to undergo any complicated Know Your Customer (KYC) process like new apps. Therefore, super-apps can reduce the costs of some kinds of financial transactions such as those of lending apps because they can analyze the creditworthiness of loan applicants correctly in real time.

Any organizations interested in developing apps into super-apps for competitive edge can contact us at [email protected] and tel. 02-636-7011. We are ready to provide relevant services from the stage of planning to development and implementation.