Seen from WeChat – see anything about the super-app race in Vietnam?

Tram Ho

If not Chinese, it is difficult to understand how WeChat works and how it is used. But WeChat can be compared to all US applications: WhatsApp, Apple Pay, Uber, Facebook, Expedia and a variety of other applications – combined into one.

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“WeChat is very popular in China,” 28-year-old Canadian Canadian Michael Xu told the Nikkei Asian Review in an interview conducted through … WeChat. Michael is impressed by the way his relatives can use the same app to do everything from paying bills, chatting, playing games with friends to ordering food. “Even my grandfather, who is 88 years old, uses WeChat. He uses it to call me, and now he can use it to post pictures and articles, all the time.”

So, Michael Xu is determined to enter the Chinese video game market through WeChat, the first step is to join the WeChat programming course in Shanghai: “More than 1 billion Chinese are present on WeChat. it is much easier for them to play games on WeChat instead of asking them to download another app. ”

Michael Xu’s strategy demonstrates WeChat’s far-reaching influence. The app is operated by Tencent Holdings, with more than 1.1 billion users, mostly in China. In order to continuously expand its business, according to the Financial Times, integrated applications make WeChat the first major platform to provide an alternative service to the App Store from Apple.

The billion-dollar application market has attracted fierce competition. In China alone, there are more than 4 million applications and are continuing to increase daily. And WeChat’s success inspired companies across Asia to build “super applications” in the region.

This sector is a big step forward for emerging economies. Millions of people in these markets have missed the era of computer science, but are heading straight into the smartphone era, with smart applications.

While there are no reports on the exact number of super apps, they are springing up everywhere. “Super applications have become a business in Asia,” said Vishal Harnal, a joint partner of the 500 startups joint venture in Silicon Valley in Singapore.

Players “super applications” in the Vietnamese market

Super-apps in Vietnam, like WeChat – all come from a basic service (ride-hailing, messaging, social networking), then integrate new features, such as electricity payments. from the beginning, with the participation of big and small boys, and foreign giants.

Currently, Grab is the most prominent player in the super-app race in Vietnam, with food delivery services, connectivity and online payment through strategic partner Moca. The total value of payment via e-wallet Moca on Grab has achieved a growth rate of 150% in the first 6 months of 2019, with the number of monthly user interaction increasing to more than 70%. GrabFood achieved a total transaction value of up to 400% in the first half of 2019, with an average daily orders of 300,000 orders.

Another ride-hailing app Go-Viet is also aiming to become a super-app, following the model that Go-Jek affiliate group is implementing in Indonesia, a market with economic, social and Population characteristics are quite similar to Vietnam. Mrs. Le Diep Kieu Trang – General Director of Go-Viet declared: “We will continue to continuously improve and innovate solutions to meet the daily needs of Vietnamese people”.

Go-Viet has 125,000 driver partners, completing 100 million trips, growing more than 400% of orders in 12 months of operation. The food delivery segment grew 25-35% per month.

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The “be” booking app has also accelerated with beExpress and beDelivery. Adding this segment, the Be Group ecosystem is in transportation (beBike and beCar), freight forwarding (beExpress and beDelivery) and financial services (beFinancial). The company also said it will soon deploy beFood. Currently “be” has about 40,000 drivers and has completed 20 million trips since its launch in late 2018.

Also with the ambition to become a super app, Zalo integrates many new functions into the original chat application platform. Zalo Pay, launched in 2017, benefits from having a huge user base available from the main messaging app. Zalo Taxi (online car booking), Zalo Food (in cooperation with AhaMove – order food online), Zalo Travel (travel information), Zalo Bank (financial), eGovernment (smart government) also turn born.

Do not ignore the heat of the super-app race, Viettel’s Mocha is oriented to become the center of the ecosystem for young people, meeting the needs of listening to music, watching movies, videos, reading news. , play games … and connect with many other applications of Viettel such as ViettelPay, MyViettel, MyGo … The MyGo app of Viettel Post has integrated the service of calling car, multi-channel sales, money transfer, business e-commerce business. Mocha recently entered the eSports market with Mocha ZD eSports. Mocha now has 16 million installers and more than 7 million regular users.

Impact on the economy

There have been no official studies on how these super applications work and the impact in Vietnam, but the Nikkei Asian Review analysts explained that, basically, super apps attract people. use between a sea of ​​applications – and make them dependent on them.

Research by McKinsey Global Institute in China shows that developing super-applications can accelerate the commercialization process and increase the efficiency of new products and services significantly. For example, it took 8 years for Alibaba AliExpress Taobao to reach 100 million users, but only 5 for Alipay to achieve the same milestone.

Similarly, it took 12 years for QQ, Tencent’s instant messaging software, to have 100 million users, WeChat only 18 months and Tenpay less than a year. Hongbao (meaning lucky money) only needs a few days to get millions of users of its gift service.

Economist Gan Li mentioned in the Bloomberg Podcast, although it is difficult to calculate how much WeChat contributes to GDP, online consumption (mainly through WeChat) accounts for 75% of total growth, which is the driving force. major of the Chinese economy.

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WeChat has also changed most of the consumption and living habits of people by digitizing even the most traditional Chinese activities such as pensions or lucky money on the New Year. People are completely comfortable spending and transferring money with WeChat.

QR reading technology with the ability to read at a distance and less than 1 second has become a part of daily life in China. It is a powerful way to connect the digital and physical worlds. The convenience of QR Code makes many stores unwilling to get cash because it slows down the service. People often joke that: “Bum in China also has QR Code”.

The speed and simplicity of the super app has turned China from a cash-only society into a cashless society in less than a decade.

However, Forbes experts said that super-applications in other countries are difficult to dominate the market like WeChat in China, so some applications can choose to “export”, Entering foreign markets, doing so can help ensure the “longevity” of super applications.

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Source : Trí thức trẻ