Director of Grab Vietnam: Super app cannot compete with “burn money”

After the house making app, people talk more about super apps – super apps, with bright names that can be mentioned in Vietnam are Grab, MoMo, Zalo, Gojek …

Is Super app just a temporary trend or is it an inevitable trend? Competition between super apps is there still a “burning money” factor such as racing in car booking or electronic payment? Ms. Nguyen Thai Hai Van – Managing Director of Grab Vietnam – took the time to share with us about the super app story seen from the phone of the highest leader of Grab Vietnam.

* How many apps does your phone have?

– Before, my phone had many apps. About 3 years ago, the number of apps on the phone dropped below 10, because there are some apps that can serve many daily services.

* Is having a lot of apps on each phone is the cause of the current super app trend?

– I don’t think that judgment is the whole problem. Increasingly, people want more convenient solutions to the very basic needs of daily life. And to solve many essential daily problems on the same app, it is not simply that you combine all 10 services into one, but that app must understand very well consumer behavior as well as needs and habits. acquaintance of a customer.

I think the trend towards super apps comes from the fact that a service, after understanding customers’ daily consumption behavior, has a basis to be able to serve a better, broader service. And once you know your audience better, the super app orientation will be inevitable.

* Recently, the phrase “super app” is mentioned by a lot of parties. Do you recognize that these cases stem from an inevitable trend as you mentioned above, or is there a case just following the trend ?

– There are also super apps that start serving a certain field such as parking, payment, chat, media …, after better understanding of the user, they provide more substantial services. Initial needs broader, to transform yourself into a super app.

Besides, there are also applications that, mechanically, gather many services into the same app to be called a super app, without going into reality.

I think the best answer for identifying an app as a super app or not is the consumer.

* Grab is now a true super app?

Grab has a long way to go to become a super app trusted by all consumers. Grab has chosen a very smart start, touching the field of car booking, serving travel needs. This is an essential area every day, using the app very often. Most Grab users open the app at least twice a day: work in the morning and go home in the afternoon.

Therefore, after a period of operation with the first service of booking a technology vehicle, Grab has had a very high quality customer base – high degree of app engagement, time of usage and app opening. very often.

This gives Grab the opportunity to understand customers’ preferences, habits, as well as needs, from which we continue to bring in technology to serve our next needs in addition to travel needs. That is the need for food, which is much greater than the need to travel.

Since we started serving the daily needs of eating and drinking, the level of market understanding and consumer understanding has increased dramatically so that we continue to serve the payment segment through the cooperation with Moca, then is the household market segment. And we certainly won’t stop here.

* What factors will super apps compete with once a generation is formed? The story we talk about most often in the field of car booking is “ burning money “ , the element of competition with money continues as parties pursue the model of super applications?

From Grab’s experience and perspective, I think there are 2 competitive factors:

Firstly , the ultimate competitive weapon and never backward is QUALITY. “Quality” here comes from many angles.

In terms of technology products, are the things I invest in always the best in the market? Keeping up with the changing needs of customers every day? Is it easy for the partners to join the platform? Will it help micro, small and medium businesses transform digitally? …

The next factor affecting quality is the “soft” factor, which is the experience we bring to customers on the platform. You book a car and meet very nice drivers. Those are quality experiences of service that no money can buy.

Or you order a dish at the restaurant, the restaurant is very busy. The driver partner to the store has to wait, but if the shopkeeper is soft and comfortable with the driver, when he delivers the meal to you, he’ll be happy too. Every “soft factor” in service is another aspect of quality.

This first element of competition is not in the money, but in the management as well as the mindset of a business. They decide how much to invest in their services, whether to be resilient and persistent with this decision.

The second factor when it comes to the problem Competition is also an issue that I recently shared with many startups. A group of young people who want to set up a startup, you have to answer the first and most important two questions.

1 – What are you looking to solve in your everyday life? And how do you use technology to solve it? If you have a very coherent and logical answer, then you have a good business idea. But that is only question number 1.

2 – When will (maybe time, maybe business size) your startup be profitable? This is the second vital question.

One expert per week. Character: Nguyen Thai Hai Van – Managing Director of Grab Vietnam

The biggest and most frequent mistake of early-stage startups is not answering question 2 early enough. Wait until you get into a situation where you need to answer question 2 and then think, sometimes it’s too late.

The Covid-19 pandemic pushed all businesses into a situation where with this question number 2, the earlier who had the answer, the shorter who brought their business model to a profitable milestone. will become more resilient to the current market difficulties, which are difficult and difficult to predict. Now is not the story of “burning money” anymore. In the past, startups might think that you had to grow at all costs, now you have to switch to sustainable growth thinking in order to survive.

* From the forward movement super app app, would make up the alliance between the app or the M & A, according to you?

– M&A is a way for apps to combine together to form a super app. With Grab, we choose the path of cooperation. Because it’s much more natural and lasting.

Grab’s platform is also built very open so that when a partner meets with Grab about the Long-term Vision and the Customer Group is compatible, complementing each other, the two can work together to serve people. consume better.

That is also how Grab is capable of creating more opportunities for startups in Vietnam. If there are relevant ideas for consumers on the Grab app, the startup will have the opportunity to reach out to Grab’s existing customer base to accelerate the development of your business idea. That’s why we host the Grab Ventures Ignite program in Vietnam. In addition to promoting the startup ecosystem in Vietnam, Grab Ventures Ignite also provides additional business opportunities for businesses and startups with ideas tailored to Grab’s user base.

* After stories of cooperation and alliance, where is the meaning of existence of individual apps ? For example, when Shopee opens, I can order food on Now and pay for Airpay, open Grab with Moca, so why do I still need? Access to single apps like Moca or Now?

– That is the question that individual apps have to answer for their own business. Because when you embark on cooperation with other apps to create a multi-service application, you have to see the whole strategy for your app, and what this cooperation means. with the long term strategy of the business.

I cannot answer for other people in the market, but for Moca, this is an extremely important and very long-term strategic partner for Grab. Partnering with Grab is a very early step for Moca to develop a payment ecosystem and expand its customer base. But Moca’s long-term vision does not stop at the payment segment, they will expand cooperation with many other partners to aim at providing comprehensive finance for users.

* The future of super apps in 3 – What will the next 5 years be?

I think in Vietnam, after traveling, eating, making payment, the interest and great investment potential of Vietnamese people are Health and Education. I myself am very interested in these fields. After 2 days of participating in startup forums organized by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, I noticed that there are many strong investment and innovation of Vietnamese enterprises in EduTech (Education Technology) and MedTech areas. (Medical Technology).

A very good point about EduTech is that Vietnamese people are very studious. All parents in Vietnam value investing in their children’s education, but for now our education is still accessible to people living in big cities. If people are far from the center or in remote areas, their access to education will be limited.

Many families move to big cities because of the opportunity to study. Technology will solve this problem. The time will come not because the child wants to learn English well, but the whole family has to leave the place where they live to go to Ho Chi Minh City or Hanoi for their children’s future. I look forward to that day.

As for MedTech, we now think of hospitals, clinics, often when illnesses, ie when problems have arisen. This is treatment, not healthcare. With the explosion and support of MedTech, health care will completely change: Not only when there are illnesses, doctors will be thought, but it will be building health, investing in daily health. We will have the opportunity to access counseling about nutrition, medical conditions, counseling on experience … to build health, not deal with disease.

* So in your opinion , is the s uper app the right direction for startups?

– Not necessarily.

Startups keep coming back to answer the two vital questions mentioned above. What problems am I using technology to solve in my life and what are the points where I am better at solving current solutions? And my idea when deployed will generate profits like?

If the above 2 questions are solved well and you see your solution can solve many more problems, then the super app could be the way to go.

* Thank you for today’s chat!