According to a new Juniper Research research, global spending on conversational commerce will reach $135 billion by 2027, up from $39 billion in 2023. By 2027, 47% of spending will be on over-the-top (OTT) platforms, like WhatsApp and WeChat.
Specifically, as Superapps provide an increasing number of services in a singular interface, such as payments, commerce, and messaging, more engaging commerce interactions will be orchestrated. According to the study, OTT apps should fully integrate such functionalities to eliminate friction or risk losing traffic.
The Asia-Pacific Region Will Be the Global Leader
According to the latest study, Conversational Commerce: Business Model Analysis, Value-added Services, and Market Forecasts 2022-2027, Asia Pacific will account for 75% of total spending through conversational commerce channels in 2027.
This will be driven by country-specific apps that include in-house payment systems, such as WeChat, LINE, and KakaoTalk.
The versatility of these apps, which integrate features like WhatsApp, Twitter, PayPal, and Uber, will be critical to building a strong digital economy and providing a better user experience.
Researcher Elisha Sudlow-Poole said, “The development of “Superapps” will create a new ecosystem for business messaging. Communication service providers must make sure they have strong, proactive partnerships with the most popular Superapps to make the most of their role in the conversational commerce value chain.”
How Can the West Achieve the Same Level of Success?
According to the study, the total number of OTT-based conversational commerce users in Europe and North America will increase by 179% to 33.4 million by 2027.
To replicate Asia Pacific’s success, communication platform providers must ensure that they can support the influx of traffic from OTT messaging apps, as well as providing depth inside these channels through the usage of value-added services.
As the capabilities of OTT messaging applications expand, this will ensure that they stay a vital component of the ecosystem.
