These "apps within an app" can be launched from WeChat's own app drawer, allowing users to access third-party services without leaving WeChat or even downloading separate apps. WeChat, however, started truly becoming the super app it is today in January 2017 when Tencent introduced mini-programs. Although other companies have also launched their own digital wallets and payment platforms, WeChat Pay and Alipay dominate China's mobile payments scene.Ĭlick here for an in-depth analysis of China's mobile payment systems. ![]() Similar to Ant Financial, having its own payment system allowed Tencent to ink partnerships with various companies to accelerate market adoption of its app. Tencent ventured into the payments scene in August 2013 with the launch of WeChat Pay. Alibaba originally created Alipay as the proprietary payment system for Taobao in October 2003 until it was spun off as a separate service through its affiliate Ant Group in February 2004. In our super apps briefer last year, we identified two crucial elements employed by successful super apps in China: mobile payment systems and mini-programs.Īmong the eight super apps we studied, Alipay was the only one to initially start as a payment platform. This also means that the user bases of each of the other six super apps are subsets of WeChat and Alipay's overlapping user base.Ĭlick here for adoption rates, smartphone ownership, activities and demographic profile per Chinese super app in Excel format (for clients only). To be precise, 94% of our respondents reported using both super apps. WeChat and Alipay covered almost all respondents in our survey, which means that their user bases are basically the same. Food delivery app Meituan by Meituan Dianping ranked last (39%). Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent form China's tech trio dubbed "BAT."īyteDance had two super apps in our list: video-sharing platform Douyin, more commonly known as Tiktok (65%) and news and information app Jinri Toutiao (49%). ![]() Baidu Inc.'s search engine app (66%) has also become a super app together with an ecosystem of related apps for various functions, such as Baidu Maps and Baidu Translate. Although WeChat started as a messaging app, its in-app payment platform WeChat Pay is a direct competitor to Alipay, which is essentially a payment app.Īlibaba Group Holding Ltd.'s e-commerce app Taobao came third (84%), followed by Tencent's other messaging app, Tencent QQ (69%). At the top of the list were Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s WeChat (reportedly used by 97% of respondents) and Ant Group Co. We asked 1,000 Chinese adult internet users about eight popular super apps in our survey in June. WeChat and Tiktok are among a growing roster of mobile apps in China and the rest of Asia-Pacific that brand themselves as "super apps." While there is no widely agreed-upon definition of what a super app is, we define it as a single app that allows users to do multiple, often seemingly unrelated functions without leaving the app.Ĭlick here for a discussion on super apps in China and the rest of Asia-Pacific. Chinese consumers use super apps such as WeChat and Tiktok less for social media and more for mobile payments and various service bookings, according to Kagan's 2020 Asia Consumer Insights survey.
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