Publication 24 September 2024

The Future of Super-Apps in Europe

Although "super-apps" are well-established in Asia, Africa, and South America, they have yet to appear in Europe. Why is that? Is it due to a lack of demand? Or is European regulation to blame? In this paper, Renaissance Numérique examines the European model of access to digital services and the current regulatory framework within the European Union, including consumer rights, personal data protection, and financial regulation, to explore these questions.

AUTHOR

  • Benjamin GREZÉ Associate, Technology, Media and Telecommunications Department, Pinsent Masons

  • Henri ISAAC Senior Lecturer, Université Paris Dauphine – PSL

  • Annabelle RICHARD Partner, Technology, Media and Telecommunications Department, Pinsent Masons

In 2023, the Chinese super-app WeChat boasted 827.2 million users in China and 1.3 billion globally. The remarkable success of this all-in-one platform has sparked growing interest in the super-app model among digital industry players. Upon acquiring X (formerly Twitter), Elon Musk announced plans to transform the microblogging site into a super-app – an “everything app”. Mark Zuckerberg, meanwhile, is widely believed to harbour ambitions of turning WhatsApp into an American rival to WeChat, although this vision has yet to fully materialise.

WeChat is far from a one-off. The super-app model has been around for more than two decades and continues to gain ground across the globe – from Asia to Africa and South America. Today, over thirty super-apps are in operation, collectively serving billions of users. Yet, despite their global spread, these platforms have primarily gained traction in developing economies and remain conspicuously absent from Western markets.

Their emergence has been shaped by specific socio-economic conditions – often stepping in to fill gaps in infrastructure that are essential for economic exchange. In many cases, super-apps represent a strategy of “leapfrogging”: bypassing traditional stages of development by embracing the latest wave of technological innovation. As a result, their deployment in Europe appears far from straightforward, given the markedly different dynamics in how digital services evolve across the continent. That said, Western digital platforms are increasingly moving in a similar direction by bundling services together. Apple offers Apple One, a subscription that combines iCloud, Fitness+, Music, TV+ and Arcade. Likewise, Uber One brings together ride-hailing and food delivery under a single membership. These developments suggest a gradual convergence between the Western model and the super-app approach.

This raises the question: could super-apps take root in Europe after all? The answer is far from simple. The dense web of regulations governing digital services, personal data, payments and audiovisual content in Europe presents major obstacles to the rollout of such platforms.

Nevertheless, this briefing by Renaissance Numérique highlights that adapting the super-app model to Europe’s regulatory landscape is not out of the question. While doing so would inevitably require significant adjustments to the business model, it is technically feasible. But even if possible, is it desirable? There’s no doubt that super-apps offer convenience. Yet consolidating a wide array of services within a single application also poses serious risks – from market concentration to data security and user autonomy. At a time when Europe is still striving to foster home-grown digital platforms capable of competing on a global scale, the question of whether to embrace super-apps on the continent deserves careful consideration.

1 Brezis E., Krugman P., Tsiddon D. (1991), Leapfrogging: a theory of cycles in national technological leadership, NBER Working Paper n°3886 ; Lee K. (2019), The art of economic catch-up. Barriers, Detours and leapfrogging in innovation systems, Cambridge University Press.

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