O2O (Online to Offline) means directing online customers to physical offline stores, and it has been one of the hottest buzzwords in China’s eCommerce sector.

O2O commerce platforms are mostly set up on mobile. WeChat, the most popular social app in China is pushing hard on O2O Commerce model. Comparing to its competitors, WeChat has some great advantages handling O2O commerce. If you are looking at WeChat O2O model for your business, here are the top 5 strengths WeChat can provide:

Huge user base

In China, WeChat user base is not only huge but also fairly active. Till the end of 3rd Quarter 2015, WeChat had 650 million monthly active users (MAUs). What’s more, the user base keeps growing: its user base had jumped up 9.8 percent in a matter of months.

Therefore, to connect your O2O commerce with WeChat will bring your brand directly in front of numerous Chinese shoppers.

An integrated platform that does it all

The social app usage can be quite separated outside of China: people go to Facebook for newsfeed, use Whatsapp or Snapchat for social connecting, Skype for video chatting, Instagram for image/video sharing, and Yelp/Foursquare for location-basis services (LBS).

In China, WeChat has it all. WeChat is an integrated platform at its best: not only the instant messaging/voice chatting/video calling function it offers, but also multi-function social features adopted by users, e.g. “WeChat Moment” for image/video sharing among friends, “WeChat Public Account” for newsfeed, LBS and eCommerce functions.

Various functionalities give your O2O business more possibilities. For example, Family Mart is Japan’s third largest convenience store chain that also has 1,306 stores in Mainland China. Family Mart has launched its official WeChat Public Account featuring LBS Functions. Generally, customers can click “Family Mart nearby”, and WeChat will show all the stores near this customer’s location. This online function will directly improve Family Mart’s offline sales.

Social Features

Despite its increasing presence on eCommerce, WeChat is a social platform first and foremost. On the other hand, WeChat’s success on eCommerce can result in its sociality feature in a big way.

Since WeChat has become part of Chinese people’s daily life, your O2O model on WeChat can get to your customers closer than other platforms. Plus functions like WeChat Moments and group conversations provide your business with more presences. More specifically, WeChat Moments enable your customer to share your promotion message to his/her inner loop, which help you to reach more target customers. Functions like Red Envelopes, coupons sharing are very popular among Chinese WeChat users today.

Payment Breakthrough

Another “hidden gem” for choosing WeChat for your O2O model is: WeChat Pay. With the wide acceptance of WeChat the social messaging platform, WeChat Pay has gradually become China’s most popular payment solutions in daily life.

O2O has finally closed the loop by leveraging the power of mobile devices. Combined with WeChat official accounts, WeChat Pay service explores and optimizes O2O consumption experience, provides professional Internet solutions for physical business.

Customer relationship management (CRM)

Last but not least, utilizing WeChat O2O has completely changed the landscape of customer relationship management (CRM).

If you are already using WeChat O2O platform and have quite a lot followers, WeChat CRM function will help you to improve your user’s experiences online. For example, customer segmentation is always a good method to better understand different type of customers’ wants and needs, and to fulfill them. Furthermore, You can also send different message, or different level of special discounts to different customer groups, and it will be more effective if the recipient of the message finds it relevant.

Besides, WeChat allows your customer to directly leave a text/voice message. Communicating with your customer online will definitely help improve your brand image, and potentially better your offline sales. This strategy is strengthening brands CRM systems and creating strong 1-1 relationships.

Conclusion

Among all instant messaging apps, WeChat has become a game-changer in China: it has evolved into a multi-platform tool for marketing/eCommerce use, and it’s proved to be an effective way for business to build an O2O model and pull the customers closer.

Whether your company is small or large, opportunities to develop your O2O commerce on WeChat are clearly growing. If you are looking forward to attract audience online especially via WeChat, contact TMO Group and let us know how we can help!

Interested in WeChat eCommerce development? Please check out TMO Group’s WeChat solution at:

You May Also Like:

5 Vital Features your WeChat eCommerce Need in 2016

WeChat eCommerce Platform: The good, the Bad and the Solution

TMO Group Attended Digital Marketing Event; Explained WeChat eCommerce