Getting people to use your so-called "superapp" is trivial when you throw enough money at them, to the extent that every transaction made through the app makes is unprofitable. The difficult part is getting people to continue using your app even when the frankly obscene amount of subsidies are withdrawn.
Grab has never been capable of the second part. It's for this reason that I am extremely skeptical of those who think Grab will ever succeed. Grab's response everytime usage numbers falls is to throw even more money at the problem. They have consistently racked up billions of dollars in losses, and this number only continues to grow ever larger. How can such a company ever be profitable? What happens when the money runs out?
Comments