Super Apps For The Super Connected

Super Apps 2022

Although consumers often discuss the
internet as if it were a single, central location, there is nothing central about it.

In just the United States, the United
Kingdom, Australia and Germany, 350
million internet users engage in countless activities
digitally. PYMNTS’ latest research, in collaboration
with PayPal, shows that 70% of these consumers buy
groceries online every month, 48% track health data
and 38% purchase local transportation, among many
more. These activities are made possible by connected devices, and consumers own a median of 6.5 of
them. These devices — and myriad apps, websites,
platforms and marketplaces — make up the internet’s
thoroughly decentralized global digital ecosystem.
It is no wonder that around the globe, many of these
connected consumers are ready to cut through this
tangle and simplify their online lives through digital
consolidation.

Super Apps For The Super Connected was done in collaboration with PayPal, and PYMNTS is grateful for the
company’s support and insight. PYMNTS retains full editorial control over the following findings, methodology
and data analysis.

Introduction

PYMNTS’ data reveals that 96 million consumers across the U.S., the
U.K., Australia and Germany say they want to use a super app —
a centralized user interface through which they can conduct their
online activities. Moreover, 81 million of the consumers who want to
use a super app are millennials, bridge millennials and Generation Z
consumers — the very same generations who conduct the most life
activities online.
Super Apps For The Super Connected, a PYMNTS and PayPal collaboration, dives deep into which connected consumers are most
interested in using a hypothetical super app and how they might
use such an app to streamline their lives online. We surveyed 9,904
consumers across the U.S., the U.K., Australia and Germany in four
census-balanced panels to learn more about how consumers in
these countries engage with the global connected economy, how
their digital engagement impacts their interest in using a hypothetical
super app and what it means for the future of the ConnectedEconomy™.
This is what we learned.

Super Apps for the Super Connected

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05

BASIC-TECH:
These consumers primarily use computers or smartphones and exhibit low overall ownership of devices,
possessing one or two devices on average. They represent 28% of respondents or an estimated 107 million
consumers. This persona is composed mainly of baby
boomers and seniors, at 41%, and low-income consumers, at 48%.

MAINSTREAM:
These consumers use computers, smartphones,
tablets, smart TVs and gaming consoles and own four
devices on average. This persona represents 60% of
respondents or an estimated 234 million consumers
and is dominated by baby boomers and seniors, at
36%, Generation X consumers, at 27%, and millennials,
at 27%. Its members are evenly distributed by income.

TECH-DRIVEN:
To further contextualize our sample, our researchers identified three
consumer personas with differing levels of engagement with technology as well as varied interest in a solution that would allow them
to converge and manage critical tasks through a single super app.
We use the following identifying terms to refer to technology personas throughout this report:

These consumers have all the devices used by mainstream users but also incorporate smart home and
activity-tracking devices into their ecosystems. They
own seven to eight devices on average and represent 12% of respondents or an estimated 48 million
consumers. They are mainly millennials, at 42%, and
high-income consumers, at 50%.
© 2022 PYMNTS All Rights Reserved

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Super Apps for the Super Connected

Key findings

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07

FIGURE 1:

CONSUMERS’ DESIRE FOR A SUPER APP
Share of consumers reporting select levels of interest in a hypothetical
super app, by generation1

Connected consumers — especially
millennials — see the super app
as the logical next step to enhancing
and streamlining their lives online.
Millennials are the generation most
interested in using a super app to simplify
and improve their digital lives.

40%

Sample
24.8%
46.7%
28.5%

0000000000
0000000000
0000000000

Generation Z
34.7%
53.3%
12.0%

OF MILLENNIALS
ARE VERY
OR EXTREMELY
INTERESTED
IN USING
A HYPOTHETICAL
SUPER APP.

0000000000
0000000000
0000000000

Millennials
40.2%
46.5%
13.3%

0000000000
0000000000
0000000000

Bridge millennials
35.4%
47.9%
16.7%

It follows that this super-connected cohort would be the most
interested in using a super app to streamline their digital lives.
Forty percent of millennials report being very or extremely interested in a super app, in fact. This means they are much more
likely than the average consumer across the four countries we
studied who would like to use such an app.
Bridge millennials and Gen Z consumers are also far more likely
than the average consumer to want to use a super app, with
35% of each generation expressing high levels of interest in one.
It is no coincidence that these highly online age groups also
tend to be more interested in using super apps.

0000000000
0000000000
0000000000

Generation X
24.5%
52.2%
23.3%

0000000000

1

Slightly or somewhat interested

0000000000

Baby boomers and seniors
9.3%
40.7%
50.0%

Very or extremely interested

0000000000

0000000000
0000000000
0000000000

Not at all interested
Source: PYMNTS
Super Apps For The Super Connected, October 2022
N = 9,904: Whole sample,
fielded Jan. 11, 2022 – Jan. 31, 2022

Our survey defines our generational demographics as follows:
• Generation Z: Born between 1998 and 2004
• Millennials: Born between 1982 and 1997

• Generation X: Born between 1966 and 1981

• Bridge millennials: Born between 1979 and 1989

• Baby boomers and seniors: Born between 1920 and 1965

© 2022 PYMNTS All Rights Reserved

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Super Apps for the Super Connected

Key findings

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09

FIGURE 2:

CONNECTED PERSONA GROUPS WITHIN GENERATIONS
Share of consumers falling into select connected device persona groups,
by generation

Millennials have the largest,
most diverse connected-device
ecosystems of any generation.
They could therefore benefit most
from having a single, central
command hub to manage them.

Generation Z
31.6%
55.2%
13.2%

0000000000
0000000000
0000000000

Millennials
23.8%
57.8%
18.4%

0000000000
0000000000
0000000000

Bridge millennials
22.9%
59.5%
17.6%

13%

OF GEN Z ARE
TECH-DRIVEN
CONSUMERS.

0000000000
0000000000
0000000000

Generation X

Millennials account for one in four consumers within the
tech-driven persona group, meaning they own a greater number
of connected devices than others and have the greatest desire
to consolidate the way they manage them. Millennial consumers
in the four countries we surveyed own an average of 6.1 devices,
in fact. This is almost one more device than the average 5.5
devices that Gen Z consumers own and two more than the 4.3
devices that baby boomers and seniors own.

23.3%
61.9%
14.8%

0000000000
0000000000
0000000000

Baby boomers and seniors
32.4%
62.3%
5.3%

0000000000
0000000000
0000000000

Source: PYMNTS
Super Apps For The Super Connected, October 2022
N = 9,904: Whole sample,
fielded Jan. 11, 2022 – Jan. 31, 2022

Basic-tech
Mainstream
Tech-driven

Although millennials are undoubtedly the demographic with the
most interest in and can arguably benefit the most from adopting a super app, they are hardly alone. All consumers who own
and use multiple connected devices can benefit from using a
super app, regardless of their age.
© 2022 PYMNTS All Rights Reserved

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Super Apps for the Super Connected

Key findings

Millennials also use their connected
devices to engage in more digital
activities than other generations.
This is another reason why they have
the most to gain from using a super app
to manage their lives online.

The connected devices that millennials own are for more than
show. They use those devices to engage in a far greater array of
digital activities than consumers in other age groups.
Among the 12 types of activities we studied, millennials were
the age group most likely to engage in nearly every one of them.
The most common activity that millennials conduct online is
grocery shopping. In fact, 76% of millennials in these four countries bought groceries online in the 30 days prior to our study
— considerably more than the 65% of baby boomers and seniors
who did the same. Similarly, 70% of millennials across these
countries used connected devices to order food from a restaurant compared to 60% of Gen Z consumers who did the same.

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11

The only exception to millennial dominance is digital drivingrelated tasks, such as using mobile apps to navigate driving
routes, paying for parking or even streaming music while driving.
For those, Gen Z leads the pack. Our research shows that although 74% of millennials engaged in such activities in the month
leading up to our survey, 77% of Gen Z consumers did the same.
These generational particularities do not overshadow a broader
truth about life online. In the increasingly connected global
economy, where all consumers have integrated digital tools into
nearly every aspect of their lives, a central user interface for
everything can help make navigating the decentralized digital
ecosystem more manageable.

76%

OF MILLENNIALS
SHOP FOR GROCERIES ONLINE —
THE HIGHEST ENGAGEMENT RATE
OF ALL CONNECTED ACTIVITIES.

© 2022 PYMNTS All Rights Reserved

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Key Findings

Super Apps for the Super Connected

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TABLE 1:

DIGITAL ACTIVITIES IN WHICH CONSUMERS ENGAGE MOST
Share of consumers who engaged in select digital activities in the past 30 days, by generation

GENERATION

Shop for
groceries

Complete
tasks related
to driving

Purchase
restaurant
meals for
pickup or
delivery

Track
anything
related to
their health

Shop for
retail items

Contact a Obtain local
pharmacist
transporto order
tation
or pay for
prescription
medication

Conduct a
transaction
with a
financial
institution

Access
entertainment

GENERATION Z

64.3%

77.1%

60.5%

63.7%

47.3%

46.5%

MILLENNIALS

75.6%

74.4%

70.1%

66.0%

58.2%

BRIDGE MILLENNIALS

74.2%

70.5%

67.6%

63.6%

GENERATION X

74.1%

66.0%

63.5%

BABY BOOMERS
AND SENIORS

64.8%

40.4%

49.1%

Purchase
Access
Engage in a
travel-related local health telemedicine
items
provider
appointment
information
or access
online-only
healthcare

47.4%

46.1%

40.1%

38.1%

37.3%

42.7%

55.5%

54.6%

51.6%

47.6%

41.4%

44.5%

46.0%

53.5%

53.8%

50.3%

46.9%

43.9%

36.6%

41.1%

41.3%

51.2%

48.2%

42.7%

40.4%

35.4%

32.3%

30.8%

30.5%

26.5%

26.6%

37.9%

25.4%

21.4%

15.9%

19.3%

24.8%

17.1%

9.4%

Source: PYMNTS
Super Apps For The Super Connected, October 2022
N = 9,904: Whole sample, fielded Jan. 11, 2022 – Jan. 31, 2022

© 2022 PYMNTS All Rights Reserved

CONCLUSION

M

illennials, bridge millennials and
Gen Z are driving forces in the
global
ConnectedEconomy™.
Equipped with their collections
of connected devices, these
highly connected consumers are accustomed to
integrating digital activities into every aspect of
their lives. Data suggests that digital consolidation via a super app is the next logical step in
their progression towards a more digitally integrated lifestyle.

METHODOLOGY
This report is based on a survey of 9,904 consumers in Australia, Germany, the United Kingdom
and the United States conducted between Jan.
11 and Jan. 31. Consumers were asked about their
preferences and concerns regarding the use of a
super app as a tool to manage shopping, banking
and day-to day activities including interpersonal
communications.