Deep Dive: The race to become China’s top super app

Chinese mobile payment app Alipay recently incorporated the features of several apps from Alibaba’s ecosystem to expand its lifestyle service offerings.

This move was prompted by the escalating competition with fellow super apps WeChat and Meituan-Dianping, whose recent forays into fintech signal that they also want a share of China’s payments pie.

Photo credit: Tech in Asia

What led to the heightened tension among these players and how will it all play out? Tech in Asia journalist Nicole Jao breaks down the who’s who of China’s super-app race and discusses its impact on the tech ecosystem.

Timecodes:

00:00 – Intro music
00:43 – Today’s topic: China’s super-app race
01:57 – Another player joins the fray
02:18 – Meituan-Dianping made it clear that it wants to compete with Alipay
03:53 – The perks of being backed by the resource-rich Alibaba
05:22 – WeChat operates on a different level
07:14 – There are several fronts in the super-app battle
07:46 – How the emergence of super apps has affected China’s tech ecosystem
08:55 – How can smaller players compete against China’s most resourceful companies?
09:30 – Super apps have been aiding the Chinese government’s fight against Covid-19
10:11 – Super apps have also cropped up across the rest of Asia
10:47 – Becoming a super app is the end goal of every company, but it’s increasingly difficult to do so in China
12:14 – The benefit of being able to observe China’s super-app race

Download the full transcript here.

Featured reporter:

• Nicole Jao, a Tech in Asia journalist based in Taiwan

Essential reading:

• WeChat vs. Alipay: The heated battle between China’s super apps

Episode Sponsor:

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