Just as large technology companies such as Mercado Libre and Amazon have diversified their businesses into financial services, Baz reversed the formula and created a ” super app ” that will focus on entertainment.
Baz is an application of Grupo Salinas, which operates under the license of Banco Azteca, and in addition to offering financial services for people and businesses, it is exploring food delivery businesses, such as Rappi and Uber Eats; the purchase of tickets for events and transportation. Even, in the medium term, he plans to do operations with cryptocurrencies.
The idea of being a ” super app ” grew out of trends seen in Asia, where millions of users use a single app for their financial services, package delivery, online shopping and entertainment.
“We want to become a digital payment platform, the largest in the country, we aspire to have more than 50 million customers in the next two years,” Juan Carlos Arroyo, general director of Baz, said in an interview.
11 months after starting operations, the app has 10 million downloads: 9 million correspond to customers and one million are businesses.
The largest number of downloads of the application, according to Arroyo, is in entities such as Mexico City, State of Mexico, Morelos and Puebla.
What services does Baz offer?
One of the characteristics of Baz is that it creates a financial and consumer community. For the owners of a business, it allows them to charge for services such as water, electricity, telephone or cell phone recharges.
“There are a million businesses that are distributed throughout the country and they are where traditionally you pay with cash, so when our customers start to find these signposted places, they find a reason for having an app that serves to be able to carry out payments,” said Arroyo.
For customers, options also include services such as live TV, movies, news, a social network, chat, and purchases on credit.
Additionally, upon entering the app, customers can see which Baz-affiliated businesses are nearby via a map. Users do not have to be Banco Azteca customers to use it.
Credits are also offered, of around 6,000 pesos and, according to Arroyo, Baz, becomes the first option in which users access credit.
Who designed Baz?
As Baz is one of the Grupo Salinas businesses, the user experience team of the Banco Azteca app was the same one in charge of developing this application.
In 2021, the Banco Azteca app positioned itself as the leader in finance applications in the country due to the fact that downloads grew more than 200% during the pandemic.
