TOKYO (Kyodo News) — Rakuten Viber may be a small player in Japan, but its popularity has skyrocketed in the Philippines, making it one of the country’s most popular messaging apps and the Southeast Asian nation becoming the main focus of new features. It is a great starting point. The company’s path to becoming a “super app.”
According to Viber’s CEO, the Japanese-owned cross-platform app has a strong presence in the Philippines (71% user penetration) because a significant number of Filipinos work abroad. This may be due to the country’s cultural dynamics of seeking opportunities. Ofir Eyal.
“The Philippines, also known as the ‘Text Capital of the World,’ has a strong text communication culture and has made a smooth transition to Viber. This transition has established Viber as a primary way to connect with friends and family, including those living abroad. ” Eyal said.
Viber was founded in 2010 by a group of Israeli friends who wanted to find a solution to expensive international calls. Originally registered in Cyprus, the application works on mobile and PC operating systems and allows users to make free calls, send messages, and make cheap calls to non-Viber users .
Japanese technology conglomerate Rakuten Group acquired the company for $900 million in 2014 to expand its e-commerce business. Since then, we’ve rolled out a variety of features on the app, including end-to-end encryption, group calling, and an API for chatbots.
According to a January survey by Japanese telecommunications company NTT Docomo’s Mobile Society Research Institute, Viber dominates the messaging app market in Japan with a smartphone user penetration rate of 83.7%, lagging far behind LINE.
Despite being behind in Japan, as of 2023, Viber has over 1.4 billion downloads and over 250 million monthly active users worldwide. The app is popular in some Middle Eastern and Eastern European countries, including Ukraine, and is said to be installed on 98% of smartphones.
Rakuten Group Chairman and CEO Hiroshi Mikitani, who visited Ukraine on September 9, said that the company is working to stop fake news and Russian propaganda on Viber. “We are cooperating with the government and telecommunications companies for reconstruction,” he added.
Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, both owned by US tech giant Meta Platforms, have high user penetration rates around the world, but Viber has surpassed the latter in the Philippines, according to a local poll. This was revealed in a September 2021 survey by the agency Pulse Asia Research. .
Filipino users say they prefer Viber over other competing apps for its ease of use, security, and variety of features such as stickers, games, and public chat.
Users can also set self-destruct timers for each message in a chat and make in-app purchases, and businesses can create public profiles and interact directly with customers.
Manila law student Thea Barinas, 25, said she uses Viber for career-related communication and product purchases, while Jessica Galan, 31, uses Viber to order food and drinks every week. He said he has used it several times.
Online business owner Lorna Bigalan, 29, who started using the app in 2019 to communicate with colleagues and customers, said: “It has advanced features such as secure, customized messages, He said he likes the app because it allows him to make phone calls. she”
In addition to being integral to the Philippines’ large diaspora, Viber’s growth in the country is also due to the prominence of micro-enterprises with 1 to 9 employees, which make up 90.5 people, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority. it seems to do. Percentage of total registered companies in 2021.
With the advent of e-commerce platforms, mobile app services, and online marketplaces that simplify the process of setting up budding Filipino businesses, the country is making it easier for Rakuten Viber to debut a new suite of tools for small and medium-sized businesses earlier this month. It was a great choice. .
“The pandemic has led to a surge in the use of Viber as a versatile conversational commerce tool for businesses.Small businesses have found Viber features such as communities and channels invaluable for engaging with customers. ” said Eyal.
Conversational commerce, which refers to the use of messaging apps and other tools to sell goods and services directly to consumers, grew by 83% in the Philippines in 2022, compared to 17% globally, the company said. It is said that the number has increased.
The company announced a 16% increase in business messaging accounts created and a 603% increase in transactional messages in 2022 after rolling out Viber business products for large enterprises.
Nene Tamayo, who opened Nene Prime Foods in 2014 to sell bottled gourmet Bangus mackerel and other Filipino specialties, was an early tester of Viber’s new tools now available for small businesses .
“Customers can now find my business when they search for Filipino food and connect with me directly for a one-on-one chat,” Tamayo said.
Rakuten Viber also aims to launch its payment service Viber Pay, currently available only in Germany and Greece, in the Philippines next year, bringing it one step closer to its goal of becoming a global “super app,” the company said. .