Now, WeChat messenger is specifically focused on business-to-business ventures and attempting to persuade brands from the West to sell on their platform. They already have high profile clients Chanel and Burberry in their platform lineup and will be courting more high-value brands in the days to come.
The concentration in Europe, where there is a well-known focus on luxury goods, is to get those high-profile brands to use their platform. Reasons they are citing for doing so include being able to reach Chinese consumers as well as those who visit Europe from China.
Global competitors of the chat-based payment system have certainly been providing lots of competition.
- Facebook has been working on expansions for monetization in its well-known Facebook Messenger as well as WhatsApp, which it also owns.
- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd has been working towards increasing usage of Alipay throughout Europe
- Alipay’s parent company, Ant Financial, as partnered up with Ingenico Group SA from France, allowing Chinese tourists to use the e-wallet platform to pay for products and goods.
In the meantime, the one and only global aviation company, VistaJet, announced the launch of a WeChat platform for sales. This move was aimed to directly connect with clients flying from China. Customers will be able to access 72 private jets through the WeChat messenger.
VistaJet knows that most Chinese customers do not use email as a means of communication, but rather leans on the WeChat messenger, which is very popular in their home country. Launching WeChat might prove to be give Chinese patrons one of the best experiences in the aviation business.