How WeChat Helps in Business Growth in China
The Chinese market is a hotbed of opportunities for new as well as potential businesses. Every company knows that. But to be able to take full advantage of this Chinese market, a business should possess all the tools to kick-start its business growth such as a feasible marketing plan, sound investment, and the support of a reliable Chinese translation service that can translate all content effectively and professionally.
The importance of communication in setting up a business cannot be denied. The same goes for all business communication that is an extremely important part of setting up a business in China. While the rest of the world uses social sites such as WhatsApp and Gmail to communicate, China has a league of its own with a one-for-all platform called WeChat that is also being used in other countries now, thanks to the many features it offers.
WeChat, owned by Tencent Holdings Limited is one of the largest messaging platforms of the globe. In fact, it is the most dominant social network in China. WeChat is called “one-for-all”, as it consists of all the qualities of Monzo, Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Uber combined. Since WeChat is used as a messaging app, many people consider it just like any other messaging app but in reality, it consists of features that social media apps offer, such as sharing videos, photos, shopping, payments, competing, and playing games online. Since its release date in 2011, WeChat has made a niche for itself in the Chinese market, which is why all sellers, from renowned brands to small businesses have accounts on WeChat.
Examples of companies that have used this app to make a name for themselves in the Chinese market are Pacific Coffee, Watsons, Xiaomi, Starbucks, and McDonald’s. Additionally, newspapers, government organizations, and pharmaceutical companies use WeChat to receive and make payments online, while the common man is using it to pay his utility bills.
WeChat may be only a messaging app for some but it offers a host of other benefits that other applications don’t. Here are some reasons how WeChat helps businesses to establish themselves in the Chinese market:
WeChat and its Users
At present, WeChat is mostly in use by youngsters residing in urban areas. This is because most of them find it easy to make purchases via mobile phones in China. As internet usage is increasing day by day, the Chinese youth and the millennials’ inclination towards its usage is also increasing. More than 1 billion people operate Wechat on a monthly basis which is perfect if one wants to target and make his place in the Chinese market. In other words, WeChat is just the key that one needs to attract consumers to purchase products both within and outside China.
WeChat’s Service Features
WeChat helps its users reach their target customers as no other platform can. This is because it offers multiple touchpoints for its customers to follow. The first step in setting up a business in the Chinese region is to successfully deliver the desired content to the people and WeChat is the app that makes the communication an easy one. It offers two kinds of accounts to its users—Service and Subscription. Subscription deals with notifications and regular contents which appear before users in sub-section. The Service option, on the other hand, is advanced as it provides a function that can deliver the content of the user to his subscribers. Chinese love to share posts amongst themselves—no wonder WeChat has become so popular in such a short time.
Direct Communication and Feedback in Real-time
One of the top qualities of WeChat that differentiates it from other apps is the advanced communication tools that it offers to users and consumers. As this communication builds up rapport and trust between the parties, consumers in China develop a sense of satisfaction about the purchased product which is why they prefer WeChat over other applications. Furthermore, companies also capture data and comments of people regarding their products which are uploaded on WeChat to note the honest reactions of customers regarding their products.
WeChat and the E-commerce Sector
The role of WeChat in the E-commerce sector cannot be downplayed, thanks largely to the many features that it offers. WeChat provides a digital “micro store” function that is specifically designed for the E-commerce industry so that operators may browse brands within the application. It has further revolutionized the online shopping experience by offering “click-to-pay” that makes it easy for customers to buy products by just clicking. All a consumer needs to do is to make an account on WeChat and he will open up a world of new products and offers as pop-ups automatically signal the availability of brands and products. Additionally, the use of QR codes helps companies in inspecting who visited their sites and made purchases.
WeChat’s Global Market
If you own an international business outside China and want to step inside this market to gain a strong business foothold, chances are you will be needing the support of a reliable translation service along with knowledge about this amazing app called WeChat. What’s interesting to note, however, is the global acclaim that WeChat has garnered over the years. There are currently more than 100 million WeChat active users outside China—of course, brands are seeking ways to make more WeChat users come under their folds to expand their market. Also, WeChat currently supports more than 20 kinds of international languages and the number is expected to ascend this year.
Perhaps the popularity of WeChat can be gauged by the fact that it is used more than WhatsApp, Viber, and Line. Even in China, it offers a host of opportunities for international businesses as China’s approximate 400 million people use the WeChat application. Another function that makes WeChat a worthy choice is that it can recover contacts and data instantly if a user’s mobile or device is lost or stolen. This means there’s no need to find the lost Sim card in case of mobile theft or wait for days to recover the lost data—all you need to do is to re-sign in to your WeChat account and recover the lost data and contacts in no time.
WeChat in Business and Marketing
WeChat also plays an important part in business and marketing. It is specially tailored to reach a large group of people at the same time. This app has increased the online shopping business by making communication easy between the buyers and sellers. Furthermore, it offers a platform for businesses to directly interact with consumers—something that is not easy these days. WeChat is also much safer than Weibo and Twitter as its forwarding feature can only be used for those which are in user’s groups.
Although many of the users are of the view that it is difficult to get access to WeChat groups, they also recognize that it is worth the effort as it opens the doors for direct interaction with the customer. Even in western markets, Chinese consumers prefer to use Chinese WeChat as it is the forerunner of all social and business interactions through the application.
WeChat as Sales Platform
As China is the pioneer of the WeChat application, it is currently putting all its efforts into making and receiving payments in China. This app has successfully reached B2C payments in areas of taxi fares, plane tickets, and film tickets. Consumers can also make payments directly even standing inside shopping platforms or by scanning the QR codes. A pin number of the bank account of the user is required by the WeChat app and payment is made in an instant. It is a very smart and exciting move to use WeChat for doing business in China, as it can be clearly be seen that this app has a bright future and huge capability in the business world.
China itself offers a lucrative market to its users as it is a leader in mobile shopping. According to iResearch data, China’s gross merchandise volume (GMV) of mobile shopping was estimated to be 929.71 billion RMB in 2014, which has ascended by a huge 239.3% from last year. Also, as the world’s largest digital market belongs to China, there is no wonder that it offers a huge opportunity for brands to market and sell products through this application.
The Last Word
If we talk about mobile commerce organizations in China, the first name that comes to mind is Tencent’s WeChat app which has changed the lives of Chinese consumers in a very short time. WeChat impressed its users by presenting the concept of making digital purchases and payments online.
According to research, over 25% of WeChat users visit their app accounts more than 30 times a day. This means that the users of this app are active and available to interact. Furthermore, the number of WeChat users are increasing as there is an average estimate of 468 billion new users of this application every month and approximately USD 15.3 billion has been spent by WeChat users last year—no wonder that new businesses in China are catching up on the opportunity to make a name for themselves through WeChat, along with hiring a professional agency for Chinese translation services, of course.
