Here’s why PhonePe rebranded its in-app platform to ‘PhonePe Switch’
‘PhonePe Switch’ allows customers to seamlessly switch between PhonePe and their favourite food, grocery, shopping and travel apps from within the PhonePe itself.
Bengaluru-based payments company, PhonePe on Thursday rebranded its progressive in-app platform to ‘PhonePe Switch,’ a one-click entry point to a world of apps on its platform. The in-app platform was earlier known as ‘Apps’.
‘PhonePe Switch’ allows customers to seamlessly switch between PhonePe and their favourite food, grocery, shopping and travel apps from within the PhonePe app itself. Users can login to these apps without downloading them, with just a single tap.
PhonePe Switch also enables merchant partners to integrate their existing progressive web apps (PWAs) or mobile-sites to the platform, and can reach out to over 60 million monthly active PhonePe app users.
When asked as to why the platform was re-branded, Sameer Nigam, CEO and Co-founder of PhonePe, said,
“Based on customer feedback, we realised that when users saw the word apps (on the PhonePe platform), they thought it to be a Play Store equivalent where the application can be downloaded. Like, PhonePe has started a download store. Another thinking was that ‘Apps’ was a place where only limited online partners of PhonePe are present. We wanted to combat both these perceptions.”
However, the real motivation behind the re-branding is to build ‘PhonePe Switch’ as a self-service brand on its own, Nigam added.
In addition for ‘value seekers’, PhonePe Switch will also help partners showcase exclusive offers and discounts to its users seamlessly. A user just needs to click on any partner logo to see the best offers running at the time.
The platform also has a ‘discoverability’ option which helps people find what’s trending. The platform also brings the spotlight to smaller players, including Juggernaut Books, FreshToHome, among others.
Launched in June 2018, PhonePe’s in-app platform currently has close to 50 partners. The platform plans to scale this number to 500, by the end of 2019.
Last month, PhonePe claimed to have registered close to 65 million transacting customers, 30-40 percent of which visited the in-app platform, Nigam claimed. A small 8-10 percent of this number transacted through the in-app.
“PhonePe Switch emphasises our efforts to build a partner app ecosystem which offers our users a very convenient way to access and engage with multiple apps. The Switch distribution platform has grown 400 percent in the last 6 months, enabling faster customer acquisition for our partners. While startups are able to acquire high-quality users at low costs, larger partners get help in specific areas like driving non-cash payments, growing their business in select geographies etc.” Nigam added.
PhonePe is focused on bringing more partners across categories, which includes travel, mobility, food, hyperlocal, shopping and entertainment on the platform.
Some of the big partners already a part of ‘PhonePe Switch' include Ola, redBus, Goibibo, Myntra, Delhi Metro, and Grofers.
(Edited by Suman Singh)
