New reports state Walmart will acquire two fintech startups including Even Responsible Financing, which Walmart already uses to offer its employees early wage access, and ONE Finance, a neobank.
While hardly a household term in the US—yet—the “super app” concept is often misused and misunderstood. Just selling a lot of different types of products and services on a mobile app does not make an app a super app.
To date, super apps don’t really exist in the US—but they’re dominant in China. A screen shot of one of the leading super apps, WeChat, demonstrates the breadth of services integrated into a single app.The following chart shows a comparison of services included in three of Asia’s most popular super apps.The super app term is often misused here in the US because the technical aspects of a super app are misunderstood.
To achieve super app status, Walmart will need to integrate its: 1) Shopify marketplace; 2) Connect ad platform; 3) health centers; and 4) existing investments in eCommerce, logistics, supply chain, and inventory management.Two factors have prevented—or at least, provided resistance to—the development of super apps in the US:Many industries in the US are dominated by oligopolies—three to four really large firms that control 60% to 80% of the market share in that industry.