Why there’s nothing really super about super apps

An impressive report by the South China Morning Post (SCMP) called “China Internet Report 2019” has been circulating on the internet.

The report heralds the rise of China as a technology and innovation superpower, with companies like WeChat and Bytedance leading the way with new concepts like “super app” and “social+”, which refers to group buying and video streaming in ecommerce.

Touting China’s influence, the report shows examples of how companies outside of China have increasingly adopted these new concepts. In Southeast Asia, Grab and Gojek now also happily consider themselves super apps.

In the US, Amazon has launched Amazon Live, its own version of livestreaming, while Facebook has come up with Lasso, a short-video app inspired by Bytedance’s TikTok.

(Note that SCMP is owned by Alibaba, whose business models and products are obviously featured in the report as well.)

A page from China Internet Report 2019

Most of the report rings true and comes at a time when many tech companies are increasingly looking to China for inspiration and business models to copy. In fact, in Southeast Asia, where I’ve spent my last six years after leaving China, the term “copy from China” is becoming more and more popular among startups.

A decade ago, people would still look for US models to copy, but people these days are increasingly searching for Chinese business models to import.

From a presentation titled “Chinese Internet Giants in Southeast Asia” at Nomura China Investor Forum 2018 (author’s slides)

That said, while the report provides an extensive overview, unfortunately most of it is just descriptive. There’s very little analysis as to why these concepts originated from China.

In this article, I dig deeper into the super app concept because it’s becoming increasingly popular in Southeast Asia. There’s a lot of media hype and noise around this topic, but very little fundamental analysis behind it.

China didn’t invent super apps

Let me start by dispelling the myth that China pioneered the super app concept. If you’re around my age, you should have seen super apps before. History always repeats itself.