Across APAC, a major shift in digital behavior is reshaping how consumers discover, evaluate, and buy from brands. The rise of super apps—platforms like WeChat, Grab, and Gojek—has transformed the mobile landscape into a series of all-in-one ecosystems where everything happens without ever leaving the app.

What Exactly Are Super Apps?
A super app is an integrated digital platform that bundles multiple essential services into one seamless environment—messaging, payments, mobility, entertainment, shopping, financial services, and more. According to Future Market Insights, the global super apps market is expected to reach USD 127.1 billion in 2025, with projections soaring to USD 861.9 billion by 2035 at a CAGR of 21%. It’s a fast-growing space—and Asia is driving it.
WeChat is the clearest example of this shift. With nearly 1.4 billion monthly active users (TwinStrata, 2025), it isn’t just an app—it’s digital infrastructure. In Southeast Asia, Grab and Gojek have become essential daily tools, enabling users to book rides, order food, send money, and increasingly, shop.
For advertisers, this matters because super apps have become the default gateway to the internet for millions of mobile-first consumers.

Why Super Apps Are Changing the Affiliate Marketing Game
Super apps change not just where users spend their time, but how they behave. Within these ecosystems, discovery, engagement, and purchase flow together fluidly. That seamlessness is exactly what makes them powerful for affiliate marketing.
In traditional affiliate journeys, consumers often hop between multiple apps or browser windows—from content to product page to checkout—introducing friction at every step. Super apps collapse those steps. A user can see a recommendation, browse a merchant’s mini-store, check reviews, apply cashback, and pay through an in-app wallet, all in one continuous flow. The result is fewer drop-offs and higher conversion rates.
This isn’t theoretical. Grab’s wallet penetration, for example, remains high, with around 74% of active users engaging with GrabPay monthly (via Grab’s published metrics). Gojek reports over 2 billion annual transactions across its ecosystem. Users are not just browsing—they're transacting constantly. When affiliate offers appear inside these high-intent moments (like during meal ordering or ride bookings), they convert.
Another crucial advantage is data. Because super apps capture behavior across multiple services—mobility, food, payments, entertainment—they generate layered user insights that most standalone platforms can’t match. Affiliates working within these ecosystems can deliver more relevant, localized offers: city-level promotions, interest-based deals, wallet-specific incentives, or even behavior-triggered campaigns.
This level of relevance makes affiliate promotions feel like a natural extension of the user journey rather than an interruption.

How Advertisers Can Actually Activate Affiliate Marketing Inside Super Apps

Understanding the opportunity is one thing—executing inside these environments is another. Here’s where affiliate networks and publishers integrated into super apps become invaluable.
Many LinkHaitao publishers operate inside WeChat Mini Programs, WeChat content channels. Advertisers don’t need to build super-app integrations themselves—they can tap existing publishers already embedded in these ecosystems.
Success often begins with crafting mobile-first campaigns. Super app users expect speed and instant gratification, so landing experiences must load quickly, support deep linking, and feel native to the environment. Exclusive in-app offers—like wallet rebates or mini-program-only coupons—work especially well, because users already trust and frequently use these payment systems.
Timing also plays a major role. Super app usage follows daily rhythms: morning commute, lunch hours, payday weekends. Smart affiliates activate campaigns during these high-traffic windows when intent spikes. This is where advertisers see efficient spending and improved ROI.
Finally, measuring performance inside super apps requires a slightly different lens. Instead of focusing solely on last-click conversions, advertisers should pay attention to repeat purchases triggered by wallet familiarity, the shorter conversion latency typical of super app journeys, and the cross-service behavior that leads to higher lifetime value. A user who first encounters a brand through a Gojek voucher, for instance, may later convert through food delivery, mobile payments, or ride-hailing promotions.

Why Advertisers Should Pay Attention Now
Super apps aren’t a trend—they’re the dominant digital environment across Asia. For advertisers expanding in APAC, or any mobile-first market, understanding how affiliate marketing works within these ecosystems is now essential, not optional.
Affiliate publishers integrated into super apps are uniquely positioned to drive results: they offer access to high-intent consumers, frictionless conversion paths, and contextual promotions powered by wallet systems and native app tools. When paired with the right offers and localized strategies, they become one of the most efficient customer acquisition channels in the region.

LinkHaitao helps advertisers unlock this advantage by connecting them to high-performing super-app-native publishers across APAC —so brands can reach consumers where they already live online.

Source:
https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/super-apps-market
https://www.twinstrata.com/wechat-statistics/
https://www.statista.com/topics/11119/mobile-apps-in-asia/
https://www.hdinresearch.com/news/501