Just how Apps Like WhatsApp, WeChat May Make Money While Providing Free Texting And Calling6810304
Have you ever wondered just how a messaging app could make money whilst offering free texting and calling? WhatsApp users at India might be surprised to find out that there is much more to messaging apps than communicating. Here's how: by providing services for example digital payments, online shopping as well as content.
China's WeChat is just about the perfect example of the vast possibilities that messaging apps hold. With more than 900 million monthly active users, WeChat enables them to do almost everything from messaging, buying grocery, hailing cabs, ordering online food and also offline payments at restaurants - this all without needing to go to another app. These kinds of services not just offer the company unbelievable customer stickiness, they also create a exceptional revenue model.
Right now, WeChat's competition outside China including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Viber as well as Line are behind the curve on this front, although some have begun on the path to becoming greater platforms. "The reason chat apps are widening beyond communications is to build a lasting monetisation strategy," said Neha Dharia, a senior analyst with a focus on messaging at London-based research firm Ovum. "Chat apps are shifting away from being just a provider of communication tools chat, voice as well as video) to being a platform for the exchange of services, payment mechanisms as well as content consumption."
WhatsApp, the largest messaging app on the planet with 1.3 billion monthly active users, introduced a business version in India very early this week. "Based on research, we all know that people are employing WhatsApp to speak with businesses. make business messaging more convenient for folks and much more productive for businesses," a WhatsApp spokesperson said in response to ET's questions. Whatsapp Business is a separate app from Whatsapp Messenger, aimed mainly at giving a direct communicating platform to small enterprises, the majority of who may be using WhatsApp already.
Whilst Whatsapp has maintained the service free, it might expand it to bigger businesses with added features like analytics, in which it may well demand a usage fee at a later stage, thus developing a revenue model, segment watchers said. This also is aimed at raising subscriber connect which it can leverage for future monetization of its other services. The larger agenda - and a more important one - for these companies is to get active users to invest much more time on the app or services as well as make it viable for profit generation, according to analysts.
"Every technology company is vying for consumer stickiness, interaction and also time invested on the app, and in order to keep them around the app's ecosystem they are widening themselves to become platforms. Simply being messaging apps offering free services is not going to be a good revenuegeneration model," said Jayanth Kolla, founding father of Bengaluru-based research firm Convergence Catalyst.
