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The new generation retail OMO channel battle has officially begun, all because of the “rise of Super Apps”! Super Apps are seen as the next retail innovation point. What makes Super Apps so “super”? How are they different from regular e-Commerce APPs? While the market is still taking a wait-and-see attitude, some pioneering brands have already laid the groundwork for the next retail battlefield. For example, POYA recently launched a brand-new Super App as part of its growth strategy.
According to Gartner’s “2023 Top Strategic Technology Trends” report, by 2027, more than 50% of the global population will be active users of Super Apps. To precisely define Super Apps, they are like a Swiss Army knife – a single interface that combines various tools to provide consumers with a complete service ecosystem for their daily needs, increasing usage and stickiness and accumulating diverse data to comprehensively optimize experiences and services.
What is the difference between Super Apps and regular APPs? Taking the retail industry as an example, in the past, APPs were mostly focused on providing single core applications, such as shopping, payment, or membership functions, all scattered across different APPs. On the other hand, Super Apps excel at “integration,” bundling shopping, payment, and membership in one APP to meet consumers’ omni-channel shopping needs. They drive user’s return visits/repurchases across multiple scenarios and enable the use of points and digital stamps in both online and offline channels, increasing the interaction frequency between brands and consumers.
From this perspective, Super Apps have the leverage points to drive the evolution of retail OMO, facilitating a comprehensive circulation of channels, data, and membership while also bringing long-term benefits to consumers, brick-and-mortar stores, and brands.
How Can Super Apps Help Brands Amplify OMO Benefits?
Retail can be considered one of the most rapidly changing industries, as evidenced by the continuously expanding service offerings of 91APP, the retail solutions provider in Taiwan. Starting from helping brands build e-Commerce websites and APPs, 91APP has continued to deepen brand membership operations and shape OMO business models, accumulating rich D2C operation support experience during the digital transformation process.
Regarding the “emergence” of Super Apps, 91APPpointed out that building an agile, smooth, and flexible APP is the basic requirement for brands, while Super Apps, which comprehensively integrate the brand’s APPs and fully cover user’s needs, are the dream product for retail brands.”
In the past, the implementation of Super Apps was difficult for brands due to the challenges of heterogeneous system integration, complex organizational division of labor, and business process reorganization. Now, by collaborating with 91APP to build Super Apps, brands can simplify these issues and utilize the high usability of Super Apps to provide more refined online and offline services, thereby strengthening consumer loyalty to the brand and increasing OMO benefits.
Leveraging the “Integration” Advantage of Super Apps to Construct Three Major Circular Values
Because Super Apps provide one-stop services that include sales payment functions, and membership management, they can contribute three major OMO circular values to retail channel brands: “Omni-channel Behavior, Member Activation, and Data Utilization.”
Regarding omni-channel behavior, consumers can choose to purchase from its EC Web or Super App and then pick up in-store, or they can order online after an in-store experience. Brands can use Super Apps to integrate fragmented shopping behaviors across various channels and methods, accumulate data, and use data to drive omni-channel performance growth.
Secondly, in terms of member activation, brands can use Super Apps to send promotional coupons and collaborate with marketing campaigns, reactivating old customers and cultivating loyalty. By integrating functions such as payment, shopping, membership cards, point accumulation, and gift redemption within the Super App, they can attract potential new members to download and use the Super App across different channels, guiding them into the brand’s OMO cycle.
The last one is data utilization. Brands can gain deep insights into consumer preferences by integrating Super App shopping/payment data with in-store POS information, which helps optimize customer experiences, quickly identify market trends, create best-selling products, or design more attractive product bundles, not only increasing conversion rates but also maintaining the brand’s market competitiveness.
Brands Building Super Apps Create a Triple Win OMO Scenario
Since Super Apps are the key medium for amplifying OMO momentum, utilizing them can create a triple win situation for “brands, brick-and-mortar stores, and consumers.”
- For brands, in the process of building a Super App, can integrate the expectations of various departments for the APP, seize the opportunity to break down cross-departmental operational barriers, and achieve greater cohesion after reaching a consensus, thereby increasing the company’s operational efficiency and driving revenue growth.
- Brick-and-mortar stores benefit from the Super App’s provision of store discount coupons, further attracting consumers to visit. Additionally, the “buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS)” service can create more potential business opportunities for brick-and-mortar stores.
- Consumers using the Super App don’t need to switch between multiple As, as they can access a diverse shopping experience through a single application. They can even have needs-fulfilling functions based on different scenarios.
Under the demand for prioritized experiences, retail brand APPs in the future must expand more value-added services, such as e- ticket ordering and mobile reservations. 91APP points out that for brands to provide consumers with seamless OMO experiences at every growth stage, the key lies in continuously upgrading APP functions and expanding service offerings to enhance the interaction quality between brands and consumers.
For brands operating D2C e-Commerce, using APPs can expand online channels and deepen member management. For brands that have both online and offline channels , APPs play a role in helping brands create OMO virtual-physical flow. The core concept of Super Apps is to drive super OMO, allowing brands to upgrade member omnichannel experiences and enhance customer relationships, thereby increasing their loyalty to the brand.
It is worth noting that building a Super App should not only focus on the technical level but also pay attention to the less-noticed logic of personalization, experiential, and integration capabilities. Therefore, for brands to leverage Super Apps and succeed in the OMO battlefield, they need “navigators” with professional industry knowledge and rich experience to guide the direction and plan appropriate Super App elements based on the brand’s industry characteristics and development stage. For example, 91APP not only integrated PoYA’s shopping, payment, and membership functions but also integrated the cross-departmental cognition and goals through demand exploration, creating a winning weapon for POYA’s OMO cycle.
The rise of Super Apps will rewrite the competitive landscape of multi-brands retailers. Whoever can provide a more comprehensive and innovative consumer experience will become the next leader! 91APP suggests retail brands start planning their transformation paths, accumulating resources to seize opportunities in the new OMO race and win the next era.
