Today, China leads the world in technical innovation and WeChat is its most iconic ambassador.
With more than 900 million daily active users (as of September 2017) and close to 40 billion messages exchanged daily, WeChat is now more than ever the daily life tool for Chinese netizens.
On the business front, Chinese consumers represent +32% of all luxury goods sold worldwide, with Chinese travelers accounting for an increasing share, and WeChat represents the perfect tool to connect with these consumers. Today’s leading luxury brands have anchored WeChat at the center of their O2O strategy in China, operating on three main pillars: Social, CRM/Data, and E-Commerce.
On the social front, luxury brands strongly improved their digital creativity (HTML5, Canvas, Gaming, VR, Mini Program, etc.) and combined social campaigns with KOL engagement and significant media buying investment to increase impact. In 2017, we saw a clear shift away from traditional media spending in favor of digital media where the ROI is more immediate and transparent.
Furthermore, luxury fashion brands have taken a page from FMCG brands and begun to implement CRM integration, message segmentation and advanced user tagging based on social behavior and consumption data. Some of them have gone a step further and developed WeChat loyalty programs aimed to increase user engagement and drive repetitive spending.
Finally, 2017 witnessed the rise of 3rd party luxury platforms (Luxury Pavillon, Toplife, Viplux, Secoo), coupled with the emergence of the WeChat mini program and an increased investment by brands into their own .CN websites.
WeChat provides the perfect ecosystem for luxury brands to court the Chinese consumer, from immersive branding campaigns to boutique appointment systems and integrated WeChat e-commerce.