Tag: tencent mobile commerce

Tencent turns mobile commerce into a game

| July 8, 2014

Gamification of mobile payments is a hit with consumers

Tencent, one of China’s largest Internet organizations, has been finding a great deal of success in the mobile commerce field, and this may be due to the company’s approach on the mobile space. Mobile payments have been growing in popularity, but there is little incentive for consumers to stick with one mobile service in particular over another. Tencent’s WeChat platform is one of the most widely used mobile applications in the world, but it has only very recently begun to support mobile payments. In a relatively short amount of time, the platform has managed to win consumer loyalty through its unique approach to mobile commerce.

Tencent help digitize a longstanding tradition in China

Tencent has successfully “gamified” mobile payments, making it more appealing to consumers in general. In February, Tencent introduced a new way for people to celebrate one of the oldest traditions of the Chinese New Year: The exchange of hongbao, small, red envelopes that contain money. Every years, people throughout China exchange hongbao, but technology is beginning to play a role in the evolution of this longstanding tradition. Tencent introduced a new feature for its WeChat platform that effectively digitized hongbao.

Initiative encourages people to spend more through the WeChat platform

Tencent - Mobile CommerceThe service allowed people to send and receive digital hongbao, but the service also introduced some competition to the tradition. Using WeChat, people had the ability to make a red envelope containing money available to 20 people. The first ten people to claim the envelope would get a share of this money, creating an incentive for more people to use the WeChat platform. This competition actually encouraged people to spend more money through the platform.

Gamification of mobile commerce could make Tencent a leader in the mobile field

Gamification is nothing new in the mobile field. Many successful mobile applications have managed to attract support from consumers because they were able to turn everyday activities into an enjoyable game. Tencent’s ability to turn mobile commerce into a game could make it one of the leaders of the mobile field, especially if people continue to respond well to the company’s efforts.

Tencent is setting its hopes on mobile commerce

| May 19, 2014

Tencent is growing bolder when it comes to the mobile space

Tencent, one of China’s largest online retail and technology organizations, has seen profits from the mobile sector soar over the past several months. The company has long held a strong place in the mobile space, but has only recently begun to heavily involve itself therein through social media, gaming, and commerce. As the company continues to grow, it is beginning to become more cavalier with its mobile interests, launching new initiatives and services that are meant to enthrall mobile consumers throughout China.

Company continues to fight competition and attract support from consumers

Tencent is currently valued at over $120 billion, making it one of the largest and most influential business entities in the country and a competitor of the Alibaba Group, which is another massive organization based in China. The majority of Tencent’s success has been made in the gaming field, where its mobile games and publishing services have managed to win the favor of consumers and game developers alike. Gaming is not enough for Tencent, however, and the company has begun to focus more heavily on mobile and e-commerce.

E-commerce proves to be a tough battleground for Tencent

Mobile Commerce - TencentIn terms of mobile commerce, Tencent has recently made updates to its massively popular WeChat application. These updates have introduced new features to the application that allow it to serve as a mobile shopping platform. The application can also be used to make payments for particular goods and services. The company has found success in the mobile field, but has not been able to mimic this success when it comes to e-commerce. Tencent has struggled for some time to establish a strong foothold in the e-commerce realm due to various challenges and strong competition coming from Alibaba.

WeChat may become the defacto mobile commerce platform for many people

Tencent is unwilling to abandon e-commerce, but the company may be focusing more heavily on the mobile space for the foreseeable future. The WeChat application is already the most widely used mobile app in the world, which also makes it one of the most widely used mobile commerce platforms. To date, no singular mobile commerce service has managed to attract the support of any significant majority demographic, but WeChat may be able to accomplish this goal.