The iPhone maker has announced that it has opened a shop on Tencent’s messaging app in China.
Apple recently announced that it has launched a new mobile commerce store in China on Tencent’s WeChat messaging app.
This is the latest step the iPhone maker has taken to expand its retail channels in the country.
China’s massive market represents a tremendous opportunity for Apple, which is making a number of moves to make itself more present in the country. The iPhone giant is using mobile commerce as its latest strategy to reach people in that tremendous marketplace.
WeChat is currently the country’s largest messaging platform, bosting more than 1.2 billion users. It is frequently known as a “super app” because it stopped being only a messaging app quite some time ago. It also provides users with the chance to use “mini programs”, which are essentially other apps that can function within the WeChat ecosystem. As a result, it makes it possible for users to enjoy the services they’d usually receive from other apps, without having to download anything else beyond WeChat.
Apple’s mobile commerce store on WeChat has been developed as one of the mini programs.
Users are able to shop for the entire line of Apple products through the WeChat Mini Program store, including the latest range of iPhone 14 devices, according to a statement released by Tencent. Orders made by WeChat are eligible for free shipping, and some users have the opportunity to pay for their purchase to be delivered within three hours.
The statement from Tencent also revealed that customers can also access a number of other services offered by Apple, using the WeChat Mini Program. For instance, they can use the Apple trade-in program.
This is a substantial move for Apple, which holds rigid control over its retail channels. That said, it has been working hard to gain greater presence in China, particularly on its largest platform. There is an official Apple store on Tmall, the mobile commerce site operated by Alibaba. That said, the second-largest online retailer in the country, JD.com, has become an official reseller of Apple products.
