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Tencent set to hit e-commerce sales milestone in 2023, closing in on short video rivals ByteDance, Kuaishou

  • The Shenzhen-based tech giant is on track to sell 100 billion yuan worth of goods on WeChat Channels this year, according to LatePost
  • Tencent aims to expand its live-streaming e-commerce-related headcount and widen product categories to take on rivals, the report says

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A Tencent office in Shanghai. Photo: Reuters
Iris Dengin Shenzhen
Tencent Holdings has quietly made inroads into the Chinese short-video e-commerce industry and is mobilising resources to build up its capabilities to take on ByteDance and Kuaishou, according to local media reports.
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This year, the social media giant is on track to achieve 100 billion yuan (US$13.9 billion) in e-commerce gross merchandise value (GMV) – the total value of goods sold through its WeChat video and live-streaming channels – according to a report by LatePost on Monday.

While the e-commerce turnover on WeChat Channels is small compared with China’s two largest short video players Kuaishou and Douyin, Tencent is betting on the popularity of short videos on WeChat, an ubiquitous multipurpose app used by 1.34 billion people, to attract online shoppers.

Tencent plans to expand its live-streaming e-commerce-related headcount, widen its product categories and ask the WeChat Pay team to help build the transaction infrastructure needed to facilitate online payments, according to the LatePost report.

Tencent did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

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The monetisation of WeChat Channels had become a main priority for Tencent this year, LatePost reported.

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