Mr. Deepinder Goyal had said Super Apps don't work in India, and now even Swiggy is ditching the SuperApp play. But what about Tata Neu?
Almost two years ago, I had written about why I think Tata Neu is a strategic blunder. The questions I asked myself then were very simple:
Tata Neu. A "super app". But why?
Is it too hard to download apps? No.
Is it too hard to navigate between apps on a smartphone? No.
Is it easier to navigate sections within a super app than the above? No.
More importantly,
Can Tata create a fully functional loyalty program within its family of apps without creating a "super app"? Yes.
Would it be cheaper, more efficient and effective? Also, will that avoid conflict of interest between Tata's teams? Absolutely.
And finally,
At the moment, isn't every buck spent on promoting brand 'Neu', effectively killing the existing brands like Bigbasket, 1Mg, Croma, etc. due to brand cannibalisation? Yes.
Due to the above, would growth of Tata Neu (the best case scenario) essentially mean brand dilution of its super specialised success stories, basically causing more harm than good? Yes.
Moving forward, some three months ago, I also did a poll on Linkedin asking people whether they "prefer to use "SuperApps", or different apps for different things?".
76% of people said "different apps for different things".
Despite all of the above points (mostly based on common sense), Tata Digital marked $3 Billion to burn on Tata Neu, with $2 Billion spent already. And guess what? Who cares about Tata Neu even now? And in the meantime, it managed to kill (or atleast overshadow) the BigBasket brand with its "Neu Flash" thing.
Whenever this point of discussion is propped up, people start quoting Chinese super apps. To all those people, it's very important to note that that was a different place, different time. Indian cultural sensibilities in this case, align more with US (pro minimalism) than China. This has a lot to do with western influence on Indian education, culture and language. Something which could never happen with China. Also, the smartphone has grown quite a bit from the time SuperApps grew in China back in the day.
So a very important question is; who's the strategy consultant who gave this advice? And how much did Tata Digital pay that artist?
And most importantly, for how long will Tata Digital go on with this Neu charade? Hasn't it gotten old?
Here's the full article with an "Open Letter to Tata Digital" I wrote last year. The document has aged like fine wine. At the end of the piece, I had written "Please let me know how to invoice you for this 'strategic advice'". Sadly, nobody from Tata Digital reached out to me with a mailing address. But it's never too late, right?
Open Letter to Tata Digital (written in early 2024)
So Tata Digital may be trying to tie up with Uber to put some life into Tata Neu, the "super app". Here's an Open Letter to Tata Digital:
Please consider leaving the "super app" idea behind. No matter how hard you beat the dead horse, it won't start running. Here's an analogy:
A banyan tree grows with its first big trunk which is spread quite thick & tall. A long time after this trunk is "established", its prop roots start to fall from the sky & set themselves as accessary trunks. This happens multiple times, and if all goes well, the tree makes its own forest. It's a beautiful outcome. Much like how a "Super App" can be visualised: One core function, succeeding so well that it throws prop roots (functions) around to form adjacent trunks (features) which may or may not become great trees (apps) by themselves.
Now what you (Tata Digital) are trying to do is making a Banyan tree. But do have a core function? No. What you have is a bunch of crown jewels; great apps which have independently built themselves as solid brands over a long time. These jewels have reached pole positions in their (very different & unrelated) verticals. These are not adjacent trunks to your Banyan, they're tall, beautiful, and independent Eucalyptus trees.
And here's a fact: No matter how much you try to tie up these Eucalyptus trees, they won't look like a Banyan. That's just not going to happen.
So what would be the better way to go about it?
Pursuing a "string of pearls" strategy, instead of a "SuperApp" one. Be the fertile ground upon which the Eucalyptus trees can thrive. Unite the backend ops for greater efficiencies (which you're doing already), but let the apps be totally independent of each other as unique brands. Let the focused teams grow independently in their niche.
A user doesn't mind downloading more apps if they work well. But he'll certainly distance himself from the entire "umbrella brand" if even something small gets screwed up. And the probability of screw ups only increases with more moving parts. Also, in pursuit of trying to grow the fake Banyan, you'll end up taking the light away from these independent entities which were working well already. It's like self combustion of the worst kind for them.
So what happens to Neu? Ditch the SuperApp & instead build it like a super loyalty program for the Tata universe. The only standalone brand of yours which doesn't have an app for itself is Croma. Build its app (or repurpose Neu as that). And let all of your brands in the fold: BB, 1Mg, Cliq and Croma, grow independently. All of them will collectively bring you much more data than a SuperApp with dwindling engagement ever will. And this data can be used to grow Neu as a loyalty platform rewarding users for being with the Tata family.
This will be cheaper. And better for users. Cheers.
Let me know how to invoice you for this "strategic advice".
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