Why SuperApps Won’t Work in the West

Itseems logical, to create a super-app, like WeChat or Alipay, to just stuff the desiderata of our digital lives into one place. Messaging, banking, buying things, renting a car or booking a flight. Any part of our lives that can be done digitally. Yet in the western world,, there’s just no such thing.

While WeChat dominates in China, there are contenders coming out of South East Asia, like Grab and Gojek. Now X (formerly Twitter) believes it can become a super app for the Western world. Perhaps. Probably not.

While there have been a number of statements as to why a super app won’t work in the West, they all dance around the primary reason. While valid, it is a misunderstanding of the real, underlying reason they won’t work. That is, cultural misalignment.

Whether it be a software product for business or a consumer app or even a general purpose technology, it always comes down to how a culture perceives a technology. Even a globally accepted technology, like smartphones, the way it is used will vary greatly.

The cultural factors that come into play include economics, political systems, social governance and most importantly, norms, behaviours, customs and traditions. These factors vary widely around the world.

The primary reasons for the success of super apps in Asian countries are first because of how Asian, or Eastern, cultures view most technologies, especially apps on smartphones. Asian cultures tend to think in terms of “we” whereas most Western cultures tend to think in terms of “me”.

When considering a technology in Asian cultures, a person will first think about how it will impact their family, friends, community and then country. In Western cultures the consideration is personal benefit first, then family, friends and country.

Then there is the economic factor for super apps. In a part of the world where there is less wealth, but people value mobile devices, a singular app that can do all things digital is better for lower powered devices which are more common.

Another factor is how software and app companies see people. In the West it is all about the “user”, the singular person. While app developers want as many people as possible to use their app, it’s still a singular approach. App developers in Eastern cultures consider the user as well, but within a more social, communal, context. These are two very different mindsets.

The very nature of super apps in Asian cultures is built around communal activities. Societal acceptance is an important aspect of Asian cultures and there are a number of customs and norms that reflect that. The practice of using little red envelopes with small amounts of money in them is an important social custom in China and Japan, for example. This can be done digitally as well through a super app.

Culture too, influences the design of apps, websites and most all software. As UX writer Daley Wilhelm wrote in an article on Medium, Asian cultures aren’t into minimalism. Apps and websites are crowded and complex. That’s a cultural preference.

Wilhelm makes some other key points on why a super app won’t work for X in here article here, which got me to thinking about this article.

In Western cultures, it is the opposite. Minimalism is the goal. This is both a reflection of a more individualistic culture and the way business is practiced in the West. The startup mindset has long been about the value proposition mostly focused on one primary pain point. The very nature of the business culture favours a variety of apps, not super apps.

The closest the West comes to super apps is platforms like Google, Apple and Microsoft. And while all their apps are available on smartphones and they talk to each other, they’re not available in a super app.

Western cultures may find, over time, that they would use super apps, but this would mean a significant shift in cultural norms and behaviours when it comes to how smartphones and apps, are used. Such shifts do happen, but they take a long time. And it also means the need for a large enough group of people to drive that change.

Whether or not X (Twitter) can achieve this is yet to be seen. It is the assumption of build it and they will come. Perhaps. History is littered with apps that have made such an assumption and failed. But sometimes, making a bet, especially when you have the financial resources to do so, can pay off.

So for major technologies that will impact a society, cultural alignment is critical, along with cultural transmission. Oddly enough, cultural implications tend to only receive a secondary attention in Western app development and marketing, where again, the focus is on the individual as the “user.” Something I see a lot training UX researchers and marketers.

The other challenge for a super app in Western societies is increasing citizen concerns over privacy and being surveilled by tech giants who are increasingly coming under fire. Whoever runs a super app will face daunting privacy and data laws such as the EU’s data laws, California’s new laws and those in Canada.

For now, super apps face the challenge of finding cultural alignment. This is no small task.