A beginner’s guide on how to start selling in China via WeChat

“A WeChat ecommerce presence is becoming the norm for all brands. However, it’s particularly useful for brands that don’t have a presence yet in China as WeChat enables selling cross-border through WeChat payments.” – Thomas Graziani, co-founder of WalktheChat

Photo credit: Wikimedia

The following excerpt is from Unlocking the World’s Largest E-Market: A Guide to Selling on Chinese Social Media by Ashley Galina Dudarenok. The excerpt was provided by Alarice International Publishing. You can buy a copy here.

Brands and vendors can use their WeChat Pay account for online and offline transactions. Especially for offline transactions, payments are usually made by scanning QR codes provided by vendors. This novel payment method is quick and simple for both parties and has revolutionized consumer interactions in China. Below are five major features of WeChat Pay for brands and vendors as used in China:

WeChat Pay vendor functions

In-app web-based payments (公众号支付)

With WeChat Pay enabled, brands or vendors that broadcast product messages via their official WeChat account can enable their followers to purchase the products on the brand’s WeChat store page.

When users make transactions directly within WeChat, such as booking food delivery or a movie ticket, they can complete the order without leaving WeChat. In-app web-based payments are suitable for payments within official accounts, on Moments pages and on chat pages.

Users confirm the payment amount, put in their password or use fingerprint recognition. Then can pay with their wallet balance or from their linked bank account. They receive a payment notification and are directed back to the vendors’ page and receive more detailed payment information later.

This function is only available for service accounts, corporate accounts and government/media subscription accounts.

In-app payments (APP支付)

Vendors can use WeChat Pay’s software development kit (SDK) to integrate WeChat Pay into their apps. For example, if users make a purchase on an external ecommerce platform app on their mobile device, they can choose to pay via WeChat on the payment page. WeChat processes the payment and returns users to the previous app.

QR code payments (扫码支付)

Vendors can create QR codes for different items. After users scan these codes, they can see product information and payment options on their phone.

QR code payments can also be used for payments on laptop or desktop sites. After being directed to the payment page and choosing to pay via WeChat, merchants will generate a special QR code for users to scan to pay. This function is only available for service accounts, corporate accounts, and government/media subscription accounts.

The “follow after payment” feature

Stores on WeChat

Cards and offers

WeChat Brand Zone