WeChat is almost as popular as WhatsApp and has more than one billion users. Yet hardly anyone in the Netherlands knows it. High time to pay attention to this hugely popular app.
WeChat: Just as popular as WhatsApp
WeChat. Ever heard of it? Chances are not. Yet the app already has more than a billion users. This makes it WhatsApp’s main competitor. Yet they are not in each other’s way, as WhatsApp is particularly popular in the west, while WeChat is mainly known in Asia. The functions also differ.
Currently, 902 million users use the app every day, and together they send 38 billion messages a day. WhatsApp has a billion daily users, who collectively send 55 billion messages.
You can do all this with WeChat
In Asia, and especially China, WeChat is the chat app. However, you can do a lot more than just chat and call with the app. For example, it is possible to pay in shops with your phone using WeChat Pay, and to order taxis. Also, according to old Chinese custom, money can be handed out to friends during the New Year.
You can also request money back from friends when you have advanced something, as Tikkie does in the Netherlands. Its most notable feature, however, is the ability to have your dirty laundry picked up at home, washed and delivered back to your home. This is possible because companies can also create an account on WeChat and thus offer their services.
This means that not necessarily a billion people use the app. People can create multiple accounts, and companies and even organizations are active on WeChat. This is the reason behind the success: WeChat is not simply a chat app, but a fully-fledged platform.
Many Chinese use few other apps besides WeChat. When Tencent, the maker, noticed that the chat app was catching on, they quickly started to expand the functionality. In this way, a complete ecosystem has been built around the ‘bare chat app’ of yesteryear, so that consumers simply no longer need other apps.
Can WeChat also become popular in the Netherlands?
In conversation with The Financial Times One analyst says WeChat’s growth is mainly due to new users in Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States. According to him, many Chinese who live and work abroad maintain contact with the home front in this way. Moreover, WhatsApp is officially banned in China, as is Messenger from Facebook.
Also read: Facebook bypasses Chinese blockade with ‘disguised’ app
The question is whether WeChat can also become popular with us in the west. It is estimated that some 100 million accounts are currently from the United States and Europe. It is suspected that a large part of this group consists of emigrated Chinese. The app is trying to become more popular in Europe, for example by getting footballer Lionel Messi as the figurehead.
We suspect, however, that WeChat will not become popular in Europe any time soon. This is because the app is mainly about offering an all-in-1 solution, while ‘we’ like to use multiple apps such as Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat. These apps are now so big that WeChat has to catch up (too much).
→ Download WeChat from the App Store (free)