The Way In Which Apps Like WhatsApp, WeChat May Make Money Even while Offering up Free Texting And C
Have you ever wondered the way a messaging app can make money while offering free texting and calling? WhatsApp users within India may be surprised to find out that there are much more to messaging apps than communicating. Here is how: by offering Apps Like for example digital payments, online shopping as well as content.
China's WeChat is probably the perfect example of the huge potential that messaging apps hold. With over 900 million monthly active users, WeChat assists them to do anything from messaging, purchasing grocery, hailing cabs, buying online food and also offline payments at restaurants - this all without having to go to another app. These types of services not merely provide the company unbelievable customer stickiness, additionally they create a outstanding revenue model.
Right now, WeChat's opponents outside China such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Viber and also Line are behind the curve on this front, although some have started on the way to becoming greater platforms. "The actual 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 simply a provider of communication tools chat, voice and also video) to being a platform for the exchange of services, payment mechanisms and content consumption."
WhatsApp, the biggest 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 utilizing WhatsApp to speak to businesses.
make business messaging far more convenient for folks and much more effective for businesses," a WhatsApp spokesman said in response to ET's questions. Whatsapp Business is a separate app from Whatsapp Messenger, aimed largely at giving a direct communication platform to small businesses, many of who may be using WhatsApp already.
While Whatsapp has kept the service free, it could extend it to bigger businesses with added features such as analytics, from which it may well charge a usage fee at a later stage, hence making a revenue model, segment watchers said. This also is geared at raising subscriber connect which it can make use of for future monetization of its other services. The greater agenda - and a more important one - for these companies is to get active users to spend far more time on the app or services and also make it viable for revenue generation, based on analysts.
"Every technology company is competing for consumer stickiness, interaction as well as time invested on the app, and in order to keep them within the app's ecosystem they're widening themselves to turn into platforms. Simply being messaging applications that provide free services won't be a good revenuegeneration model," said Jayanth Kolla, founder of Bengaluru-based research firm Convergence Catalyst.
China's WeChat is probably the perfect example of the huge potential that messaging apps hold. With over 900 million monthly active users, WeChat assists them to do anything from messaging, purchasing grocery, hailing cabs, buying online food and also offline payments at restaurants - this all without having to go to another app. These types of services not merely provide the company unbelievable customer stickiness, additionally they create a outstanding revenue model.
Right now, WeChat's opponents outside China such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Skype, Viber and also Line are behind the curve on this front, although some have started on the way to becoming greater platforms. "The actual 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 simply a provider of communication tools chat, voice and also video) to being a platform for the exchange of services, payment mechanisms and content consumption."
WhatsApp, the biggest 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 utilizing WhatsApp to speak to businesses.
make business messaging far more convenient for folks and much more effective for businesses," a WhatsApp spokesman said in response to ET's questions. Whatsapp Business is a separate app from Whatsapp Messenger, aimed largely at giving a direct communication platform to small businesses, many of who may be using WhatsApp already.
While Whatsapp has kept the service free, it could extend it to bigger businesses with added features such as analytics, from which it may well charge a usage fee at a later stage, hence making a revenue model, segment watchers said. This also is geared at raising subscriber connect which it can make use of for future monetization of its other services. The greater agenda - and a more important one - for these companies is to get active users to spend far more time on the app or services and also make it viable for revenue generation, based on analysts.
"Every technology company is competing for consumer stickiness, interaction as well as time invested on the app, and in order to keep them within the app's ecosystem they're widening themselves to turn into platforms. Simply being messaging applications that provide free services won't be a good revenuegeneration model," said Jayanth Kolla, founder of Bengaluru-based research firm Convergence Catalyst.
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