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Tencent's WeChat debuts in 618 shopping festival with big bet on live-streaming e-commerce despite slowing economy
By: South China Morning | June 18, 2022

• The June 18 shopping festival, China's second-largest online shopping extravaganza after Singles' Day in November, has become the latest arena of e-commerce rivalry between established players, such as Alibaba Group Holding, JD.com, and new contender, Tencent Holdings' WeChat, as mainland consumers have become reluctant to loosen their purse strings in a slowing economy.

For the first time, WeChat has entered the 618 battlefield by offering merchants various incentives to live-stream on its video service Channels. The app has promised to direct more traffic to sellers who have achieved a certain sales level or posted high-quality short videos. It also said it would feature well-performing "showrooms" on the recommendation page.

While Tencent's model of merging e-commerce with live-streaming is hardly new - Kuaishou Technology and TikTok's Chinese sibling Douyin both started earlier - WeChat's new efforts to woo online shoppers reflect an increasingly competitive business environment for China's Big Tech companies, which are looking for new growth areas amid economic challenges.

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The ubiquitous presence of WeChat, which has 1.29 billion monthly active users, most of them located on the mainland, has offered some merchants the hope of reaching untapped consumers and connecting directly with them through WeChat's social features.

One brand trying to leverage WeChat's vast user base is Miniso, China's largest variety lifestyle-goods retailer, which debuted two product lines - a new collaboration with Walt Disney Studios' Pixar and a new line of aromatherapy products - through live-streaming sessions on Channels during the 618 festival, according to Wei Xiaoya, digital marketing director of the Guangzhou-based retailer...

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