Online research: How to sell on Wechat ?

28Feb2015

Online research: How to sell on Wechat?

The market of e-commerce has been rapidly developing for the past few years in China. WeChat, an app enabling people to communicate via quick messages, has recently added a new option allowing businesses to sell their products. Every year, the number of mobile phone users is rocketing. 25% of worldwide phone users, about 1 billion users, are concentrated in China. Its large market attracts many new brands every year, which seek to approach Chinese customers via various channels. For foreign companies willing to enter China market, it is now crucial to know how to sell on Wechat.

WeChat is the best first-step to enter the Chinese market. You won’t need to have Chinese business registration, Chinese bank account, or exporting license to sell to China. All you need is a WeChat shop (best solution on the market is WalktheChat) that connects with WeChat cross-border payment account, and then ship products through cross-border channels which don’t require a trading license. This way you can start with a minimal investment, test the Chinese market by working with a few Key Opinion Leaders, and get direct feedback about how your business can perform in China. You can then plan your next phase of investment.

Daxue’s digital strategist, Maya Horin

Four ways of selling on WeChat

As it was noticed, WeChat has recently launched a new option, which allows online payment. Consequently, businesses based in China have received one more opportunity to access their potential customers. As a result of this innovation, there are four main ways of selling products using the app.

How to sell on Wechat: “Subscription account”

The easiest and most commonly used way of selling goods in WeChat is to create a “Subscription Account”. Companies can launch such an account by means of special tool www.Fengling.me, which is provided by WeChat team for this purpose. After everything is done, a company may start advertising itself and presenting the range of its products. To make the process of purchasing easier, “Subscription account” is linked with an e-commerce store. So if a consumer chooses to buy a product with this application, they are automatically redirected to the payment page. The only challenge arising is that only companies registered in China are allowed to create their brand pages.

How to sell on Wechat: Posts and promotions

Another way, which involves both advertising and selling, is to attract customers by current or upcoming promotions. Cafes, shops, and restaurants register their pages on WeChat to use it by posting sales and promotional campaigns. The biggest challenge here is to make sure that as many potential consumers as possible receive promotion advertisement. In order to be informed, WeChat users need to follow a restaurant or a shop page. Many cafes send out upcoming promotional campaigns, which are going to occur in a particular location in a short period of time (for example, in one hour). As a result, they may be lucky to send a promotional campaign to a person, who turned to be close to a place. To increase the number of followers, shops and restaurants offer their customers to follow them in the social network for the purpose of being up-to-date with all sales and promotions.

How to sell on Wechat: Online shop platforms

Moreover, some brands such as Xiaomi, ONLY and Sephora built their online shops in WeChat, where they sell products directly. This function is available under “Service Accounts”. However, to use this function, a brand needs to have a good plan for building awareness, and a logistics capability. As a result, the majority of products, sold via WeChat, are moving through different malls controlled by Tencent.

How to sell on Wechat: “Word of mouth”

Another widely used way of selling via WeChat is by means of traditional “word of mouth”. Such companies as Weidian and OKWei sell their products via various connections and networks. After they post information about a good, a designed team starts a promotional process, similar to Amway model but via online contact. They share posts on various networking pages, inviting new people and apply all possible connections. A person, involved in sharing a product, which is finally sold, receive a reward in the form of commission.