WeChat Mini Program: Why it is best for cross-border E-commerce

WeChat Mini Program was first launched on January 9, 2017, and its operating system is based on the WeChat platform.

According to the data of the WeChat team, in 2020, the MAU of WeChat exceeded 1.2 billion, and the DAU (daily active users) of WeChat Mini Program reached 400 million, a 100% increase compared with 2019. The annual cumulative transaction volume of WeChat Mini Program increased by more than 100% year on year, and the per capita transaction amount also achieved a 67% increase.

According to the latest official data of Tencent, the number of daily active users of WeChat Mini Program exceeded 450 million in 2021, and the frequency of daily use of WeChat Mini Program increased by 32%.

The unique advantages of WeChat Mini Program are highlighted below:

1. No registration required - Fast Account Opening for Wechat Mini Program

Every User has many ways to access the WeChat Mini Program. The most popular way is they can swipe down on WeChat to access a list of saved or recently used Mini Program. This is a major step WeChat took in positioning itself as an operating system. Most businesses no longer need to launch a separate native App, a WeChat Mini Program will do the similar work.

Users can also access to Mini Program via:

Wechat Official Account menu
Through Wechat articles,
Through discover tab on Wechat,
By sharing card on Wechat groups,
By sharing card to friends on Wechat,
By Scanning of Mini Program QR code and
By doing search of a specific Mini Program by its name

Wechat Mini programs create an effective native user experience within Wechat where users don’t need to download multiple apps separately on device. And since users can be directed to Mini programs by multiple ways without leaving Wechat ecosystem, thereby giving high user engagements in terms of sessions, pages/sessions, session times etc and also higher conversions desired by any app developers as payment is an in-built feature of WeChat.

2. Lower development cost to create Wechat Mini Program

There is a comprehensive technical and customer service available from the WeChat development team for mini program developers. Whether you want to develop a new WeChat Mini Program background themes or choose service providers for integrating with your existing stores, Tencent team provides development technical support, which is conducive to reduce development costs.

3. Lower entry cost for direct to customer brand merchants

In addition to paying for advertising, which is similar to most e-commerce platforms, WeChat Mini Program also has a "decentralised" strategy, in which the WeChat ecosystem enables merchants to run their own traffic and transactions in their private domain without any fees. Users and transaction data are only visible to the merchants themselves.

If you want your WeChat Mini Program to be certified, you just need to submit another certification fee every year.

4. Multiple Ways to get access to organic user traffic with social sharing advantages

Wechat Mini Program gets access to the full WeChat Ecosystem which covers every touch point of the user's daily lives.

Wechat is a leading messaging app for Chat allowing and Wechat groups, Wechat Moment feeds for social sharing, and Wechat Gift cards for sharing coupons deals and membership plans. It also has an enterprise Wechat version for businesses.

Apart from Wechat Messaging, The ecosystem has a suite of other apps like QQ Music, Tencent News, and QQ Video etc. giving a wide platform for user acquisition for Mini Programs.

5. Simplified Wechat Mini Program registration and account opening procedures

There have been multiple hurdles for cross-border ecommerce brands in areas like business registration, business licensing, bank account opening and payment integrations.

WeChat Mini Program has provided strong customer support and simplified procedures for the businesses to get started easily.

Wechat Mini program’s customer development team fully supports to resolve the legal compliance issues of cross-border e-commerce, supports the registration and certification of international accounts, helps to open cross-border bank accounts, allows for update of real time exchange rate changes and accepts business licences of different countries and regions.

These processes have undoubtedly reduced the burden of new cross-border e-commerce enterprises entering the Chinese market.

6. Direct shipping and shipping through bonded warehouse

WeChat Mini Program directly supports two logistics modes: cross-border e-commerce direct shipping (better known as code 9610 in China) and shipping through bonded warehouses (better known as code 1210 in China).

International direct shipping refers to the purchasing of goods directly from abroad which are then shipped by international logistics vendors (sea or air), goes through customs clearance procedures, and then gets delivered to consumers. This ensures that goods are shipped in their original form. It is a more preferred choice for Chinese consumers who are looking to buy original international brands.

Bonded warehouse delivery refers to the batch transportation of international goods to the bonded area for storage and delivery management, and then the goods are sent to users by domestic shipping services after passing a series of customs clearance procedures. Products in the bonded area are subjected to strict quality supervision by the customs department.

A comparative table for two shipping modes -

Direct shipping or bonded warehouse delivery, mainly depends on the user's choice. If the user is in urgent need of products, they can choose bonded warehouse delivery. But due to the increase in merchant costs (such as storage costs, occupancy costs, etc.), the price may be higher than direct shipping mode. In case of no hurry, users can choose direct shipping, and since users can buy a variety of different products in different quantities, average product price can be lower than bonded warehouse delivery mode.

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