IS THERE A NEW PLAYER CHALLENGING WECHAT’S MINI PROGRAMS?

Is There a New Player Challenging WeChat’s Mini Programs?

Undoubtedly, WeChat became one of the biggest players in the app market garnering about 1 billion users. With the launch of last year’s Mini Programs, WeChat again stayed on top of its game.

But is this going to end sometime soon?

It was recently announced that a collaboration of China’s smartphone manufacturers and some Chinese government bodies are working together to build a similar technology to Mini Programs. While no concrete news has been shown yet, this may be a sign that WeChat is about to experience some tough competition from the new player.

WeChat Mini Programs

For those who don’t know, WeChat Mini Programs are applications (also known as sub-applications) that you can download inside the WeChat system. Mini Programs can be downloaded in the same way that you download regular apps from your Google Play or Apple Store.

The difference between Mini Programs and regular apps is that Mini Programs don’t use up as much data. They are fewer data intensive and still have the same nature as apps. Because of this big difference, many WeChat users switched from the regular app stores to WeChat’s Mini Programs.

The New Player in the Market

Some of the collaborators involved in this new project are Xiaomi Technology Co., Huawei Technologies, Lenovo, Oppo, Vivo, and other Chinese phone manufacturers. The Chinese government body the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is also involved in this project.

From what we know so far, this new technology is known as “Fast Apps,” and it works in a similar fashion to Mini Programs. They are very lightweight apps that are HTML based and do not need any downloading or installation. Once you click on one of these Fast Apps, it’ll launch right away.

A platform similar to that of a Play Store will be created to store all the Fast Apps. The group plans to make this new platform more efficient and faster for its consumers. This is with the goal of enhancing user experience in mind.

In an interview with Reuters, collaborator Xiaomi mentioned that there are already over a hundred Fast Apps ready for use once the platform is launched. There are also Fast App versions of some of China’s existing apps such as travel app Ctrip. Beside each Fast App is an “instant launch” button next to it. This will allow users to launch the app right away without the need for installation, as we’ve already mentioned beforehand.

How Fast Apps Will Work?

Each of the smartphone manufacturers in the alliance will have their own app store where the consumers can download the Fast Apps. For example, Xiaomi will have its own marketplace known as the Mi App Store while the others will also have theirs. This is quite different from the setup of Google Play Store and the Apple App Store— both of which we are more used to. It works pretty much like the Mini Programs of WeChat where you can get access to instant apps.

What Are Some of the Benefits of Fast Apps?

We’ve already mentioned convenience to be one of the main benefits. What are the other benefits that Fast Apps offer? One other main benefit is that consumers won’t have to worry about compatibility issues with their devices. They can just launch the app from their phone’s respective play store and use it. This is also an advantage for developers because developers won’t have to worry about building different versions just to make certain apps work.

What’s Next for WeChat?

Even with a new threat to their already established brand, WeChat won’t be going down without a fight. First, WeChat is able to make the Mini Programs accessible to even Apple device users, which is an issue that may become problematic for Fast Apps in the future.

Other than that, WeChat has also launched a Mini Program known as CityExperience that targets travelers on business trips. This move can potentially battle the Ctrip Fast App.

Conclusion

While Fast Apps offer very attractive features to smartphone users, WeChat still remains at its spot with its Mini Programs and shows no signs of moving. The battle will be about which app store gives the best user experience to the consumers. We will just have to wait and see how Fast Apps can fare in the market against Mini Programs.

IS DOUYIN THE NEXT BIG PLACE FOR BRAND MARKETING IN CHINA?

Launched in 2016, Douyin is on the path of becoming the most popular short video app in China. Owned by ByteDance the app is based on another app owned by ByteDance i.e. Musical.ly which is very popular in rest of the world especially in the US. The app allows the users to create 15-second videos and provide a huge collection of background songs and dialogues. It has amazing filters and editing tools which help the users to create high-quality content. There are many other features which are attracting more users like Live videos.

The increase in popularity
There are many other applications that run on the same concept but the strategically planted advertisements and better features helped Douyin to grab the topmost position in the market leaving other apps like Kuaishou, Miaopai, and Haokan Shepin behind. In August 2017, the app crossed 1 billion views on videos which were a great achievement in a very short span of time.

KOL love Douyin
The team behind the app did not leave any single chance to attract Key Opinion Leaders or KOLs. As the app gained popularity more KOLs started using the app which further attracted more users in form of their followers. Douyin has special events for KOLs and also give them monthly incentives in form of gifts etc.

The Generation Z’s favorite app
As the technology is getting advanced, the younger generation with age group 18-24 better known as the Generation Z wants to have applications that provide entertainment but do not waste their time as well. This young generation loves to multitask and longer videos are a big hurdle in it. Thus apps like Douyin became their preferred app. Douyin’s user base has around 33% of Generation Z users. Also, the application is famous in all sections of the society and even in smaller cities as well. It has attracted women from all age groups as well and a good percentage of KOLs are women on the app.

Cheaper options
Using Douyin is not at all expensive for anyone. All income groups can use Douyin to make quality content without using any additional software etc. The app provides a special platform for the brands and companies to promote their goods and services on the app via short videos. These brands often collaborate with KOLs and take advantage of their reach. In return, the KOLs are paid in terms of goods and money.

The live video feature is gaining popularity among the KOLs especially for promoting brands. They combine their entertainment streak and subtlety promotes the brand while interacting with the followers. Some of the live videos are direct promotions as well. Even the big brands like Audi, Pizza Hut, and Michael Kors are exploring the platform in extreme possible ways.

The problems with Douyin
Although the platform is perfect for brand promotions there are many issues which are worrisome for the brands, KOLs and general users. It has been noticed in past that apps disappear from the market without any notification. The way Douyin gained popularity is not normal for any market and despite being backed by a large corporate house; there will always be some fear that app will leave the market.

Another problem which brands are facing is the fake KOLs. There are a lot of people who are exploiting the loopholes in the code of the application to gain followers unethically. There are services who charge for providing followers as well. The problem is that majority of them are fake profiles. Paying heavy amount to these fake KOLs result in a major financial loss for the brands. The app has to take drastic steps to remove such fake accounts.

Conclusion
Douyin is one of the best ways for the brands to explore social media platforms and reach new groups of customers at a very affordable price. However, it is still not as big as WeChat which has way more active users than Douyin. We can only hope that in coming days the app will gain more users and address the problems faced by brands and KOLs.

PINDUODUO: A NEW AND ONE OF A KIND SHOPPING EXPERIENCE IN THE CHINESE E-COMMERCE

We all know about the success stories about Chinese tech giants like Alibaba and Tencent, but there is one more company that’s been making news lately and surprising the world with its rapid growth. Pinduoduo is not just another ecommerce app, where you can just browse, buy, leave and forget. Shopping with the Pinduoduo app makes you feel like shopping with your friends or family, and have fun while doing it. Often referred to as a Facebook-Groupon mashup, this sensational app has gained around 300 million users since its release in 2015. So how did it happen? Let’s find out.

What is it and how it started:
Founded by ex-Google engineer Colin Huang Zheng, in January 2015, Pinduoduo is a social ecommerce site which offers super cheap deals, and very attractive referral discounts to its users. Often used through Wechat, all users are able to buy merchandise at 20% lesser prices than the other platforms as they are directly dealing with manufacturers. Along with that, the referral discount campaigns push customers to share the app with their friends which explain the viral nature of the app.

Their Target Market:
When it comes to Pinduoduo’s objectives, it is mostly surrounded by acquiring new customers through their app download, retaining and repeating. With their brilliance in building viral marketing tactics, Pinduoduo surely seems to know all the tricks to make their customers do the marketing for them. They primarily target low income customers from lower tier cities and towns. This provides them with a competitive advantage over Alibaba and Tencent who compete only for wealthy customers. Pinduodou’s customers are very price sensitive and like to purchase more often and are usually in control of purchasing on behalf of the whole family. Reports suggest that majority of the apps users are females with the age above 40 years living in old Chinese cities.

Unique Features of the fastest growing app in China:
So what makes this app stand out? According to a report published by Cheetah Mobile in 2015, Pinduoduo was ranked second among all the e-commerce sites in China with Taobao ranking as the first. This suggests that the company must be doing something extraordinary to be growing so rapidly. The app applies some brilliant marketing strategies when it comes to acquiring, retaining customers and making sure that they will keep coming back. Some of their tactics include,

Group Buying:
This is one of the main attractions of the app where it offers special discounts when current customers share the app with friends and family, make them download it and purchase as a group. All the members of the group get the products delivered to their respective addresses but at a discounted price.

Free products:
Who doesn’t love some freebies? Even if it’s a toothbrush. Pinduoduo offers a wide range of free products to their customers but there is a catch of course. Current customers just have to make new users sign up for the app through Wechat and download it. The rewards get better with the number of signups referred by the customer and that makes it more addictive and interesting. For example 1 install will win you a box of candy while 9 installs will win you 1.3 kilograms of nuts and so on. Awesome tactic to get your business viral .

Short term coupons: As their name suggests these sale coupons which are valid for very short time. By very we mean as short as a coupon with only 2 hrs of validity.

Asking friends to “bargain”:
Another way Pinduoduo makes itself viral is by allowing friends or family members of users to help them bargain about the products they wish to purchase. Each time someone helps you bargain, the price decreases a little. A lot of times people end up getting the products for free. This might sound little vague in terms of business modeling and cost effectiveness but Pinduoduo mainly focuses on long term profit than short them while investing in these campaigns.

Red envelopes and leaderboards:
These are straight up cash rewards that you get for inviting friends to install the Pinduoduo app. The rewards are mostly between 5-20 RMB and also the highest amount receivers get their name displayed on the apps leaderboard feature.

Lotteries:
For a refundable fee of 0.01 RMB, users can win a lottery of buying a product for 0.01 RMB. They need to invite as many friends as possible in order to raise their chances on winning.

As of 2017, the company was said to have a gross merchandise volume that exceeded RMB 100 million which is very impressive as it had taken way too longer for other tech giants to reach the same milestone. The company recently came into news for its involvement in investing RMB 10 billion ($1.58 billion ) to help with the marketing and promotion of agricultural products from 500 manufacturing origins within 2018. The company is planning to use these funds in order to help with the branding of these products.

HOW DOES GROUP BUYING IN PINDUODUO ACTUALLY WORK?

Nowadays, the use of super apps as a means to access essential services has become highly in demand. In China alone, consumers are already depending on the use of super apps in their day-to-day lives. According to some studies and research, apps like WeChat and Pinduoduo have become highly popular because they are able to manage the consumer’s needs all in one place.

Since we are living in a fast-paced world, it has become difficult to focus on important things. Fortunately, the development of Pinduoduo has created an e-commerce opportunity for the consumers to shop efficiently. It no longer requires the consumers to go outside in buying their essentials and necessities. In this way, a lot of time is smartly spent. Undeniably, the app has met the demands of a modern customer.

In view of this, the popularity of Pinduoduo app is increasing and is expected to keep on for the next few years.

About Pinduoduo

Basically, the fastest growing app ever recorded in the Chinese internet history is known to many people as Pinduoduo. It is apparently one of the leading social e-commerce apps in China. Initially founded by an ex-Google engineer in September 2015, it has already become the fastest growing company for e-commerce in China today.

The social e-commerce app allows consumers to spot deals on merchandises and enables them to acquire discounts on every friend recruit. What’s more, the app offers items at a price that are 20 percent cheaper compared to their market price. That is because Pinduoduo allows customers to buy from direct manufacturers, cutting out advertising, middlemen, and acquisition cost. To even add to your hassle-free buying experience, the app developers have developed gaming elements that help consumers dole out rewards and coupons.

Pinduoduo Business Model
Due to the growing popularity of the app, the transaction volume compared to its startup stage has greatly increased to about 10 times higher. Other than the increase of app users, various new investors have also emerged. According to an involved party, plans for expansion have already been considered.

The Group Buying Concept
Apparently, the core function of Pinduoduo app is the group buying. All items are available at two different prices: a group-buy discounted price and an official price. The official price is the individual price of the item. On the other hand, a Pinduoduo group buying price is a discounted rate of a collective bulk offer. In order to avail the price, you need to recruit friends and join together in the group-buy deal. All products ordered by a certain group will be shipped respectively to each member’s address.

Other viral incentives of the app include the bargain and free-product features. Certain products can be shared with friends. You can access them by asking your friends to help you bargain for a lower price. Each time a friend agrees to bargain, the price decreases. Eventually, the price can drop down, and you can have the product for free. The more friends you have, the higher benefits that you acquire.

WeChat Participation
In order for you to use the Pinduoduo app, you will need to install it and sign up through WeChat login. When inviting friends for Pinduoduo group buying, cash rewards, and free products, you will need to access the WeChat messaging service.

Undeniably, the association with WeChat has made it easier and more convenient for the consumers. One example of this is you can make automatic payments via WeChat. Pinduoduo is using WeChat as a means for consumers to pay. Its greatest advantage is that it allows all your Pinduoduo transactions to be automatically billed towards your WeChat payment account without further validation. In other words, it enables a default password-less payments.

Digital Shopping Experience
Since Pinduoduo provides an opportunity for the consumers to invite members and friends, the user engagement within the app encourages a unique shopping experience. Features such as group buying and free products enable the same function as shopping with friends in real life. Basically, the idea behind the group buying, cash rewards and discounts is to provide people the engagement to a digital experience of shopping in groups.

Conclusion
The Chinese social e-commerce app, no doubt, provides all the necessary features and added extra functions that attract people more. Apparently, it appeals to people who are price-sensitive and time-conscious. Furthermore, the shopping experience that the app offers are being reflected in a real-life group buying experience. All of these contribute to the overall value of Pinduoduo app which has driven the app’s popularity even further.