Five Effective Strategies for Using WeChat eCommerce for Your Business

WeChat is one of the biggest players in the social media market in China, making it an important place for eCommerce for businesses. As of Q1 2020, WeChat had a monthly active user count of 1.17 billion people, over 1 billion WeChat Pay commercial transactions per day in Q4 or 2019, showing the vast potential for your business in terms of WeChat e-Commerce expansion. People use WeChat every day for purchases for almost anything, ranging from buying movie tickets to booking hotels, to ordering food, and even using it in place of cash and credit in person.

If you are looking to expand your business to include WeChat e-Commerce, the following offer five effective strategies for success in the Chinese WeChat marketplace.

WeChat Advertising

Advertising is everywhere, and that includes WeChat, meaning that part of your WeChat e-Commerce marketing strategies should be using advertising. There are two main locations in WeChat where you will be placing your direct advertising: moments and accounts.

Moments is a WeChat e-commerce feature where people can update their status through sharing of photos, short videos, or articles to the people that are in their circle and following them. You can purchase moments ads that will then be seen on targeted users’ pages. When people are viewing moments, they will see the targeted ads, and if those ads are interesting, and of products or services that they want, then they can click through to your content. If your promotion is interesting enough, people can even like and comment on it, increasing the odds of other people clicking through.

Alternatively, you can pay for account ads as part of your WeChat e-Commerce strategy. These will appear like ad banners at the bottom of articles on WeChat. Anytime a person finishes reading through a WeChat article, they’ll see the advertising, although they can also end up seeing them on WeChat itself.

Posting Quality Promotional Content

The best way to interest users to expand your WeChat e-Commerce success is through posting high quality and interesting promotional content. People are more likely to follow brands that have regular and interesting posts that keep them engaged. The more you can get your audience engaged, the more likely they will be to share your posts, to bring more users to your brand’s account, and to ultimately bring more visitors to your store.

Online Store Linked to Official Account

Linking your online store to your official WeChat account can greatly increase the convenience to users for purchasing your products and services. If a user never has to leave the WeChat app to view or purchase, it increases their conversion rates. WeChat e-Commerce can be a huge boost to your overall sales numbers, and linking WeChat to your online store can be a boon.

Engage with Customers Through Mini-Programs

Mini programs are applications within the main WeChat application, so users do not need to install any extra application to get extra features related to a brand. Offering mini-programs as part of your WeChat e-Commerce strategy can be important because they complement your official account by increasing social sharing; people can directly share single products to their friends and family quickly and easily, so they don’t have to scroll through your whole official account. Mini programs have some operation restrictions and a standardized structure, which can actually be beneficial because it means you can focus more on your sales promotions. 

Loyalty Programs

Customer loyalty is important when it comes to WeChat e-Commerce; the more loyal a customer is, the more likely they will share your business with their friends and family. You can use WeChat to promote loyalty programs for your company through promotional offers, VIP cards, e-coupons, points systems, or by partnering with another company or with a Key-Opinion-Leader (KOL).

Expanding into the Chinese marketplace can be difficult for some companies, but by establishing a presence on one of the largest social media platforms in the country through effective WeChat e-commerce strategies, you can ensure the best chance of people being seen, and the best chance at expanding your following organically.