How Not to Design a Financial ‘Super App’
By Millie Arora and Tamara Moellenberg
A major trend within the financial services industry is the rush to consolidate users’ finances into one nifty streamlined app. The all-in-one “super app,” which would allow users to access all their finances in one place, has venture capitalists buzzing. To wit, Revolut was just valued at $33 billion. PayPal and Walmart are also jumping on the super app bandwagon.
But is this the beginning of a bubble?
While super apps such as WeChat and Alipay have been successful in Asia, their expansion in the U.S. and European Union is a more recent phenomenon. Driving this revolution is a singular focus on growth. Venture capitalists prioritize key performance indicators that focus on customer acquisition, leading firms to offer more bells and whistles served up through a single centralized app. While this may be a successful short-term strategy, companies will need to understand their customers, their social worlds, and their relationship to money if they want to make these apps work in the long term. People don’t think of their money as all the same. They distinguish between “fast money” — funds spent now — and "slow money" — funds set aside for the future.
Read the full article on American Banker’s website here.