{"id":5311,"date":"2016-03-08T09:30:38","date_gmt":"2016-03-08T08:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/visionarymarketing.com\/en\/blog\/?p=5311"},"modified":"2024-02-22T17:16:02","modified_gmt":"2024-02-22T16:16:02","slug":"wechat-global-expansion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/visionarymarketing.com\/en\/2016\/03\/08\/wechat-global-expansion\/","title":{"rendered":"Can Chinese platform WeChat succeed in its global expansion?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wechat is very successful in China<\/a> but can it succeed in its global expansion outside its home country?\u00a0WeChat, also called \u201cWei Xin\u201d in Chinese, is the most popular social network application in China, and its monthly active users hit 650 million in 3Q-2015. Today, it has even become a kind of \u201clifestyle\u201d for the Chinese. <\/span>Its holding company, Tencent, has also showed its global ambitions by internationalizing Wei Xin. Only nine months after the launch of Wei Xin in January 2011, its English version was created. In April 2012, WeChat replaced Wei Xin as its English name. \u200b<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Lionel
Lionel Messi is a star on Wechat too<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

WeChat supports account registration via SMS in at least 100 countries and regions<\/span><\/a>, and there are 19 WeChat versions in different languages for users to locally choose Chinese, English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Korean, Japanese, Thai, Arabic, etc. \u00a0The application can be downloaded from almost all mobile operating systems like Android, IOS, Symbian and Blackberry. What\u2019s more, it\u2019s possible to invite one\u2019s contacts on Facebook and Twitter directly to join WeChat via an interface.<\/span><\/p>\n

With few overseas offices, WeChat is rolling-out on a country-by-country basis through local partnerships, investments or acquisitions, and seeking to reinforce its global reputation. <\/span><\/p>\n

For instance, in 2012, Tencent acquired 13.5% of \u00a0Kakao Talk, a South Korean mobile app developer, for $64 million.<\/span><\/a> In 2015, the group invested $50 million in a Canadian startup, <\/span>Interative Kik, which had more than 240 million registered users and a strong base among U.S. teens<\/span><\/a>. Kik\u2019s founder, Ted Livingston, regularly explains the company\u2019s ambition to become “the WeChat of the West.” However, it looks that Tencent\u2019s overseas investments have been more focused on game-related companies so far: Pocket Gems (US), Glu Mobile (US), Kamcord (US), Miniclip (Swiss), CJ Games (S. Korea), Reloaded Studios (S. Korea), etc. Very recently, <\/span>Tecent has teamed up with Naspers, Africa\u2019s largest media group, to introduce WeChat across the continent<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2013, the company launched a communication campaign in which the football player Lionel Messi was shown using WeChat and even calling his mother.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

However, WeChat\u2019s users are still mostly Chinese and its overseas presence is mainly focused on Southeast & Southern Asia and Latin America. Even though more and more Westerners use WeChat, it\u2019s mainly for keeping in touch with their
\nChinese friends, or families and friends living in China. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"WeChat<\/p>\n

So, can we expect WeChat to succeed in the international market? <\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s quite positive is that MA Huateng, founder and president of Tencent, seems highly motivated. He once said, \u201cWeChat is Tencent\u2019s unique chance to expand worldwide.\u201d Then, the exchanges between China and the rest of the world have continued to increase, which creates a word-of-mouth effect among those who are interested in China. Furthermore, Tencent is able to support its internationalization strategy with significant financial resources. In 3Q-2015, its turnover and profit reached $4.18 billion and $1.19 billion respectively, both with a YOY increase of 34%. <\/span><\/p>\n

Three big challenges faced by WeChat abroad:<\/b><\/h2>\n

However, WeChat must overcome three serious challenges abroad. <\/span><\/p>\n

The first challenge<\/span><\/i><\/h3>\n

One of WeChat\u2019s key differentiators lies in its multi-features driven by customer experience and even broader than those of Facebook, WhatsApp or Skype (covering text or voice messaging, call\/video call, personal updates, news reading, content sharing, group discussions, \u201cMobile Wallet\u201d, brand promotion via public accounts, on-line games,\u2026). However, WeChat\u2019s functions which will really attract users abroad will vary to the local market, thus making the application lose more or less its differentiating factor compared to its rivals. People born and living abroad will probably \u2013 at least in the beginning \u2013 focus on WeChat\u2019s functions around text or voice messaging, call\/video call or gaming. This can be explained by three main reasons:<\/span><\/p>\n