Weidian: A new player in the Chinese e-commerce market
A new competitor of Taobao has arrived on the Chinese e-commerce market a few months ago in China. It is called Micro Store or Weidian. This little new app in the e-commerce world broadens the Wechat universe that is no longer an instant messaging app. With Weidian we now have WeChat eCommerce
Tmall’s Taobao controls 80% of the Chinese e-commerce market shares, for now. In order to fight back, Tencent has created Weidian that focuses on the simpler use and better registration process than its competitor.
Weidian is Simple, easy to use and easy to share
The app can be downloaded via a friend’s publication on its Wechat moments or there
The main panel allows to manage orders, to look at the money made, to see the sales statistics, to see and manage clients, to save articles you want to promote or to put on sale
On Weidian you have two options. You can either promote your shop for free or pay a fee in order to put on small advertisements or access a marketplace for companies that have to register to the Chinese Kbis (营业热照)
Weidian dares to challenge Taobao monopoly
Micro stores allow you to become their agent and earn money via wages or commissions. You can do it for your own shop as well.
Here are two micro-stores to give you an idea of what it looks like :
You can share the app using a hyperlink, through your Wechat id contacts or by inserting it into your QQ profile
The visitor can browse the goods online before buying them, forward them to friends or groups using Wechat, or publish them in other SNS like Tencent Weibo, Sina Weibo, or QQ zone. Lastly, the e-shopper can publish it into its moments and promote it into its community.
Common features with its big brother, Wechat
This new app from Tencent uses the same “look around” functionality as its big brother. You can look for nearby new shops and set it to show you a particular city or country
In addition, it is possible to find other micro-stores through other friends’ recommendations that show up instantly. Weidian includes a web-based version in order to quicken the inventory of the goods on sale.
A difficult battle is about to start
For the next few months, everyone will definitely focus on Weidian (and its competitor Youzan) and observe its rise or fall against the e-commerce giant, Taobao. The objective of this app is to improve the exchange and sharing of information more fluid, something Taobao has issues with.