Why WeChat is Set to Dominate the Global Mobile Market

Speed, convenience and “not bothering to lug around cash” are key reasons why people use WeChat, China’s premier social messaging platform. Counting at 846 million users per month when measured in 2016, popularity is growing faster. Tencent, Asia’s most valuable technology company, reported a net profit of RMB 10.6 billion (a whopping $1.5 billion USD in revenue) thanks mostly to WeChat, known as ‘Weixin’ in China. Most surprisingly, the application was only created five years ago.

So what makes WeChat so profitable?

1. Mobile Payments Services

Earlier in 2016, Tencent revealed $50 billion in bank transfers flow across its WeChatPay mobile payments platform every month. This app, housed inside WeChat, allows seamless transfers between users and makes payments to online and offline retailers. Considering the popularity with which developed countries embraced Tap and Go payments, WeChat’s integration of payment into social messaging is an innovative element representative of the company’s offerings.

2. Social Media

Feeling lonely or bored? ‘Shake’ lets you literally shake your phone, and if anyone else within your proximity is doing the same thing, WeChat will connect you to that person for an impromptu chat! Who knew that swiping right could be a thing of the past already. In a Chinese world where popular Western social media platforms: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are barred by the “Great Firewall” of China, users can connect not only with their friends and family, but with small to corporate businesses seeking to connect with customers on a more personal level. Which leads to …

3. Moments

The concept doesn’t get more distilled than this, but then they always emphasis the beauty within the simplest things. Moments lets you post status updates, accompanied with single or multi photos on which your friends can like or comment. Want to share a motion picture? Moments lets you share videos, depicted in a single Imgur-like thumbnail on which your friends can play and pause. The bells and whistles of Instagram and Snapchat are discarded, but strangely photo and video sharing feel both permanent and in-the-moment!

4. Video Gaming

Tencent is the world’s largest gaming company measured by revenue, registering a net profit of 14.5 billion RMB in early 2017. Leveraging on its parent’s success, WeChat users can visit the store, download and launch games, all within the hallowed halls of the app. Ranked in the top 10? Boasting can then be done through the integrated social dimension in the gaming experience. Not to mention, WeChat’s games are not a simple, 2D pixelated matter. They are 3D experiences with technical quality and engineered precision.

If you didn’t gather, if there ever existed an ‘everything’ app, WeChat is it. Younger Asians who grew up under a Western influence will have undoubtedly experienced increasingly frequent pestering by parents on how to use a modern smartphone. ‘Weixin’ is a friendly reminder of home, where target markets aren’t restricted to a savvy younger generation as typified by Instagram and Snapchat; and perhaps additionally equipped with ITIL Foundation Certification. So the next time your mum asks how to send a picture on her phone, you may be interested in checking out her ‘Moments’. It’s different, intuitive and may soon replace your latest ‘Snap Story’.