7 ms·

WeChat is reinventing ecommerce and America is playing catch-up

96 points by vincent_s 11y ago

howlingfantods 11y ago
The KFC underneath my office in Shanghai doesn't even take credit card anymore. They only accept cash and WeChatPay/Alipay.
- wodenokoto 11y ago
  In Denmark we are seeing shops that only accept mobile pay (a local mobile payment app, not unlike a standalone wechatpay)
- zhte415 11y ago
  This is a great pain in smaller shops that have lunchtime rushes. Queue of 5-6 people. One customer nearer the front gets out their phone, locates the correct sub-app, scans, waits for confirmation, cashier gets confirmation. This process, involving phone from pocket, unlocking screen, pressing screen, pressing screen again, scanning QR code for purchase, cashier getting confirmation, takes around 20 seconds (mainly latency on the physical interaction with phone part). A cash transaction takes much less time. There are 'bounce' apps that just mean you need to bounce against (hit) someone else 'bouncing', but they reduce the latency little. Faster than card, but marginally. /rant (stand in queues a lot) And then scanning QR codes to add the shop as a 'friend' for a 1 Yuan discount (or demonstrate you've been a 'friend' before, more like a 0.2 Yuan discount). Wow. This can take over a minute.
bsder 11y ago
America isn't playing catch up. The current state is quite intentional. No payment processing incumbent will EVER concede the single biggest market to another except on point of death.
- colordrops 11y ago
  I agree with you that it is intentional. But how is that enacted? Regulatory capture?
jgbond 11y ago
WeChat is the only viable option in China because no one else is allowed to compete. It's a bloated piece of crap that has borderline become an OS within an OS. "In WeChat, everything’s in one place." Know where else everything is in one place? On your home screen where you can have lots of buttons called apps that do specialized things in a better and more simplified manner than WeChat can.
- wodenokoto 11y ago
  That's bullshit. There are plenty of other social platforms in China. None of them have been able to compete at the level of wechat. And line has shown that the cramming everything into a chat app is a viable option. Japan has access to all social networks yet decided on using Line by a huge margin.
- rxin 11y ago
  Wechat had intense competition in China. And putting competition aside, I find wechat much more convenient and feature rich than other international messaging apps (eg whatsapp). Last time I visited China I paid for cab rides and bought electronics all within wechat with minimal setup. The mobile commerce maturity and convenience that comes with wechat is years ahead of what Silicon Valley offers.
  - contingencies 11y ago
    The mobile commerce maturity and convenience that comes with wechat is years ahead of what Silicon Valley offers. Really, America in general is backward when it comes to finance in general, it's not limited to Silly Valley and payments.
  - maratd 11y ago
    > Last time I visited China I paid for cab rides and bought electronics all within wechat with minimal setup. The mobile commerce maturity and convenience that comes with wechat is years ahead of what Silicon Valley offers. What? I was able to do this on AOL in the 90s. How is this progress?
Gustomaximus 11y ago
“I think Americans will be willing to press ‘buy’ if somebody gives them a fucking ‘buy’ button. I think this every-time I use Paypal on Ebay/Steam type services. While PayPal have many points of criticism, I find it most unbelievable they haven't lead the internet in one-click buying services across internet purchasing.
Pintok 11y ago
How does this matter seriously? It's been a while since I have had a problem making payments anywhere in the world, or even on crappy e-commerce sites anywhere in the world.
- tzakrajs 11y ago
  I think it matters because many countries have enormous populations without computers, which means the current state of e-commerce needs to be made mobile friendly (and low bandwidth/high latency) to make sales. I think they are also implying that WeChat is going to beat Facebook to the next billion users internationally.
  - Pintok 11y ago
    I don't buy this narrative. It's been used for a while to raise funds to "scale up". The truth I fear is, if the bottom of the pyramid cant afford a computer, how much do you think they are going to be spending out of their empty mobile wallets. And then some wise ass will say but look they are spending. The truth is they are being manipulated into spending, just like the suckers who were tricked into mortgages they couldn't afford. Who else does one think is clicking the infinite supply online ads.
ohthehugemanate 11y ago
So is the next phase of big Internet companies to make the leap into payment processing and banking? * The other day we heard about apple's enormous cash stockpile, focus on security, and risk management capacity, which positions them well to become a depositor bank. * Samsung is pushing Samsung pay everywhere it can * sounds like Facebook should add a "buy" button to Pages and pull a wechat.
swang75 11y ago
I encourage those wishing to learn more from a product design perspective of how WeChat has successfully tied together so many disparate elements to make such a powerful product take a listen to the official WeChat product podcast by WeChat product managers: https://soundcloud.com/wechatpodcast https://soundcloud.com/wechatpodcast
ehmorris 11y ago
Related: a great article series about mobile UI and app trends in China: http://dangrover.com/blog/2016/01/31/more-chinese-mobile-ui-trends.html http://dangrover.com/blog/2016/01/31/more-chinese-mobile-ui-... (from a wechat product manager / Silicon Valley transplant)
- jaflo 11y ago
  Also this one from the same author: http://dangrover.com/blog/2014/12/01/chinese-mobile-app-ui-trends.html http://dangrover.com/blog/2014/12/01/chinese-mobile-app-ui-t...
- a_small_island 11y ago
  Thanks for sharing. This was enlightening and as an avid hn/tech blog reader, not something I normally see.
home_boi 11y ago
It might be a difference of taste. The bloated Yahoo home page type of website is popular in the Asian countries but not in America. This seems to be a similar case.
mtw 11y ago
Too much text. Can anyone point to actual Wechant screens or video showcasing ecommerce? I have had WeChat installed for the past year, chat regularly but as far as I'm concerned, the only thing you can do is buy nice animated drawings.
dilemma 11y ago
With WeChat I can: Order and pay for materials from suppliers and have them sent to my factory Communicate with my factory regarding product and pay them Have the finished product shipped to my fulfillment center Sell the product in my WeiDian shop and receive payments and so on. WeChat is essentially digital infrastructure for both personal and professional use.

96 points by vincent_s 11y ago

The KFC underneath my office in Shanghai doesn't even take credit card anymore. They only accept cash and WeChatPay/Alipay.

wodenokoto 11y ago
In Denmark we are seeing shops that only accept mobile pay (a local mobile payment app, not unlike a standalone wechatpay)
zhte415 11y ago
This is a great pain in smaller shops that have lunchtime rushes. Queue of 5-6 people. One customer nearer the front gets out their phone, locates the correct sub-app, scans, waits for confirmation, cashier gets confirmation. This process, involving phone from pocket, unlocking screen, pressing screen, pressing screen again, scanning QR code for purchase, cashier getting confirmation, takes around 20 seconds (mainly latency on the physical interaction with phone part). A cash transaction takes much less time. There are 'bounce' apps that just mean you need to bounce against (hit) someone else 'bouncing', but they reduce the latency little. Faster than card, but marginally. /rant (stand in queues a lot) And then scanning QR codes to add the shop as a 'friend' for a 1 Yuan discount (or demonstrate you've been a 'friend' before, more like a 0.2 Yuan discount). Wow. This can take over a minute.

bsder 11y ago

America isn't playing catch up. The current state is quite intentional. No payment processing incumbent will EVER concede the single biggest market to another except on point of death.

colordrops 11y ago
I agree with you that it is intentional. But how is that enacted? Regulatory capture?

jgbond 11y ago

WeChat is the only viable option in China because no one else is allowed to compete. It's a bloated piece of crap that has borderline become an OS within an OS. "In WeChat, everything’s in one place." Know where else everything is in one place? On your home screen where you can have lots of buttons called apps that do specialized things in a better and more simplified manner than WeChat can.

wodenokoto 11y ago
That's bullshit. There are plenty of other social platforms in China. None of them have been able to compete at the level of wechat. And line has shown that the cramming everything into a chat app is a viable option. Japan has access to all social networks yet decided on using Line by a huge margin.
rxin 11y ago
Wechat had intense competition in China. And putting competition aside, I find wechat much more convenient and feature rich than other international messaging apps (eg whatsapp). Last time I visited China I paid for cab rides and bought electronics all within wechat with minimal setup. The mobile commerce maturity and convenience that comes with wechat is years ahead of what Silicon Valley offers.
- contingencies 11y ago
  The mobile commerce maturity and convenience that comes with wechat is years ahead of what Silicon Valley offers. Really, America in general is backward when it comes to finance in general, it's not limited to Silly Valley and payments.
- maratd 11y ago
  > Last time I visited China I paid for cab rides and bought electronics all within wechat with minimal setup. The mobile commerce maturity and convenience that comes with wechat is years ahead of what Silicon Valley offers. What? I was able to do this on AOL in the 90s. How is this progress?

Gustomaximus 11y ago

“I think Americans will be willing to press ‘buy’ if somebody gives them a fucking ‘buy’ button. I think this every-time I use Paypal on Ebay/Steam type services. While PayPal have many points of criticism, I find it most unbelievable they haven't lead the internet in one-click buying services across internet purchasing.

Pintok 11y ago

How does this matter seriously? It's been a while since I have had a problem making payments anywhere in the world, or even on crappy e-commerce sites anywhere in the world.

tzakrajs 11y ago
I think it matters because many countries have enormous populations without computers, which means the current state of e-commerce needs to be made mobile friendly (and low bandwidth/high latency) to make sales. I think they are also implying that WeChat is going to beat Facebook to the next billion users internationally.
- Pintok 11y ago
  I don't buy this narrative. It's been used for a while to raise funds to "scale up". The truth I fear is, if the bottom of the pyramid cant afford a computer, how much do you think they are going to be spending out of their empty mobile wallets. And then some wise ass will say but look they are spending. The truth is they are being manipulated into spending, just like the suckers who were tricked into mortgages they couldn't afford. Who else does one think is clicking the infinite supply online ads.

ohthehugemanate 11y ago

So is the next phase of big Internet companies to make the leap into payment processing and banking? * The other day we heard about apple's enormous cash stockpile, focus on security, and risk management capacity, which positions them well to become a depositor bank. * Samsung is pushing Samsung pay everywhere it can * sounds like Facebook should add a "buy" button to Pages and pull a wechat.

swang75 11y ago

I encourage those wishing to learn more from a product design perspective of how WeChat has successfully tied together so many disparate elements to make such a powerful product take a listen to the official WeChat product podcast by WeChat product managers: https://soundcloud.com/wechatpodcast https://soundcloud.com/wechatpodcast

ehmorris 11y ago

Related: a great article series about mobile UI and app trends in China: http://dangrover.com/blog/2016/01/31/more-chinese-mobile-ui-trends.html http://dangrover.com/blog/2016/01/31/more-chinese-mobile-ui-... (from a wechat product manager / Silicon Valley transplant)

jaflo 11y ago
Also this one from the same author: http://dangrover.com/blog/2014/12/01/chinese-mobile-app-ui-trends.html http://dangrover.com/blog/2014/12/01/chinese-mobile-app-ui-t...
a_small_island 11y ago
Thanks for sharing. This was enlightening and as an avid hn/tech blog reader, not something I normally see.

home_boi 11y ago

It might be a difference of taste. The bloated Yahoo home page type of website is popular in the Asian countries but not in America. This seems to be a similar case.

mtw 11y ago

Too much text. Can anyone point to actual Wechant screens or video showcasing ecommerce? I have had WeChat installed for the past year, chat regularly but as far as I'm concerned, the only thing you can do is buy nice animated drawings.

dilemma 11y ago

With WeChat I can: Order and pay for materials from suppliers and have them sent to my factory Communicate with my factory regarding product and pay them Have the finished product shipped to my fulfillment center Sell the product in my WeiDian shop and receive payments and so on. WeChat is essentially digital infrastructure for both personal and professional use.