What do Klarna, the Swedish start-up valued at nearly 45 billion euros, have in common; PayPal, the American payments giant; or Lydia, the French unicorn used by nearly 40% of 18-35 year olds in France? These fintechs all claim to be “super-apps”.
Margaux De Saint-Marc
Digital Marketing and Innovation Consultant at Square
Square is an international strategy, organization and operational consulting group.
Invented in 2010 by Mike Lazaridis, founder of BlackBerry, the super-app concept is the new workhorse of payment applications. Its principle: to create a single portal, bringing together a set of services and functionalities, while offering an optimal user experience. And thus become a “all-in-one” application, directly at the service of the consumer.
User experience at the center of the strategy
In their digital life, users increasingly want high speed. For this, the super application must offer an ecosystem allowing solve problems they may encounter with traditional players: the lack of transparency, the lack of fluidity, the complexity of navigation, etc.
Starting from a desire to transform a basic, even archaic, banking service into a “super experience”, super-apps reinvent uses and break codes with a single objective: optimize the entire user experience. Lydia, which removes the complexity of RIB exchange, or Revolut, which simplifies currency conversions, make the experience so fluid and fast that it becomes as natural as possible for the user.
The younger generations are thus particularly attracted by a modern image, a personalized experience and careful marketing. By adding to this a particular tone, accessible, and an attractive design, the super-apps find here, the ideal recipe and thus become serious competitors for traditional banks.
The limits of their development
Although these new services are appealing to a large number of consumers, financial players still have to meet challenges in order to win over traditional banks and survive in the market. Indeed, if 25% of French people say they are dissatisfied with their bank, only 3% change it each year. They must therefore redouble their efforts to combine the richness of the services offered with the security and fluidity of the journey.
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The richness of the services offered and this ability to make the experience personalized and targeted is made possible by collection and use of customer data. However, this also represents a brake, especially for the older generations who are particularly reluctant to do so.
When an application has access to certain personal data, the digital natives (i.e. individuals born after 1980) see the opportunity for a fluid and transparent user experience. “Generation X”, born before 1980, sees it as a invasion of privacy : how will they be used, who will have access to them and will they be resold? “Super-apps” have a real duty of communication to reassure the user.
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The principle of these super-apps, which is the multiplication of functionalities, can lead to a second limit. Indeed, attracting users with a wide range of services while maintaining a smooth and consistent experience requires high-flying technique. The multiplication of functionalities with a view to profitability can quickly degrade the use of the application. Lydia, for example, today puts less emphasis on its primary fund transfer offer, on which it loses money, in favor of its banking offer (credit card and investment), which is more profitable, which makes the much less fluid experience. This logic can quickly become an irritant for the userwho feels oriented in his consumption by highlighting products for which he feels less concerned.
There is another path for super-apps, that of partnerships with traditional banks. This scheme is a win-win situation for both players, by allowing super-apps to expand their product portfolios, and traditional banks to address new customer sectors.