Travel companies should be “thinking about super apps as a distribution channel”, says Brett Henry, MG Group

Brett Henry

Speaking from Arival activate in Bangkok, Brett Henry gives his perspective on what it takes to be a super app in Asia, and how travel companies can reach potentially billions of travelers by incorporating super apps into their distribution strategies.

“80% of the next billion people coming into middle class will be from Asia. After eating and putting a roof over their heads, the next thing people want to spend money on is travel,” Henry said. “[As a travel company], you should absolutely be thinking about super apps as a distribution channel.”

What does it take to be a super app? Can travel companies become super apps themselves?

“The business needs to have a base element [or category] to become a super app, and then they need to have scale and persistence. They need to scale that business to extreme proportions.

“Super apps need to start in one category that people use every day [which is what is referred to as persistence], and then they need to expand out (e.g. start in payments or as a taxi apps, and then expand out by adding more services to that app. [It’s harder for travel companies to become super apps themselves], as people don’t book flights every day.

“Super apps also need to be hyper-local. This might seem counter intuitive because they’re scalable, but super apps offer a hyper-local, everyday experience to their customers. For example, people in Bangkok may be using the taxi app Grab up to 8-12 times every day.

“Super apps need to also be willing to have a lot of capital to burn, because they will be entering hyper-competitive spaces, e.g. food delivery, transport. They need to be prepared to be real warriors in this space.”

 *Source: Weilla Wong wwong@belverapartners.com