The key facts
- WeChat Shop is taking part in the 11.11 sale for the first time — it runs from October 12 to November 15
- Coupons can be forwarded in chats; joint participation by users increases the discount
- Tencent fully funds some discounts for certain store categories at its own expense
The messenger has become a marketplace
The Chinese messenger WeChat has for the first time fully joined the world's biggest sale, 11.11. WeChat Shop, Tencent's shopping platform built into the messenger, has officially joined the traditional Singles' Day venues — Alibaba, JD.com and other marketplaces. This is reported by Life.ru, citing the marketing agency HI-COM. The first full-fledged Double 11 sale on the platform started on October 12 and will run until November 15.
Discounts via chats
The main feature of the new sale participant is that ordinary chats turn into a sales channel. A user can receive a coupon, forward it to a family chat or a group of friends, and joint participation makes the offer more advantageous; the platform itself funds the extra benefit in such promotions. Individual coupons from major shopping livestreams can also be forwarded via private messages and group chats, and some offers can be combined with discounts for purchases in multiple stores.
Seller support and background
WeChat also supports sellers: for certain store categories, the platform fully funds some discount coupons, and participants in major shopping livestreams are promised additional advertising bonuses. Details of the program were published by the Chinese outlet Yicai. WeChat Shop did not appear out of nowhere: in 2024, Tencent began consolidating the stores inside its video service Channels into a single commerce system so that shopping would be available through livestreams, posts and search. Now the company is leveraging the app's main advantage — communication between people: while classic marketplaces lure shoppers to sale pages, WeChat aims to make discounts land directly in people's chats.
