Tencent challenges e-commerce rivals with new gift-giving feature on WeChat
The new function could be Tencent’s next big hit after electronic red packets, says one merchant
Shoppers can search for products by keywords. According to the official guidelines, all gifts available are priced 10,000 yuan (US$1,375) or under, and they exclude jewellery and tutoring classes. After the sender completes payment, the recipient must accept the gift and submit a postal address within 24 hours or the order will be cancelled, and the money returned to the sender.
Users can only send a single gift to one WeChat friend per order.
The new feature, which was quietly rolled out this week to a select group of users, has sparked discussion about its potential as Tencent’s latest weapon in China’s hotly contested e-commerce market. With 1.2 billion users, WeChat – known as Weixin locally – has a ubiquitous presence among the country’s internet users.
