What is WeChat Trinity? How It’s Shaping WeChat E-Commerce
The WeChat Open Class PRO is Tencent's annual event for creators, businesses, and marketers. It sets the roadmap for WeChat's development over the next 12 months, showcasing new features, success stories, and future trends.
© iyunying
This year, the standout announcement was WeChat Trinity — a powerful integration of three key features: WeChat Mini Store, Mini Programs, and Service Accounts.
This fully connected system aims to help businesses attract customers, boost sales, and foster long-term relationships.
Under the Trinity system, each WeChat component plays a role on its own and within the system:
Service Accounts: Help businesses stay connected with customers and encourage repeat purchases,
WeChat Mini Store: Handles transactions, orders, and customer service - more about this feature below,
Mini Programs: Offer functions like memberships and marketing tools.
Until now, live-streaming through WeChat Channels was the main way businesses sold products. The Trinity model offers a more balanced approach, helping merchants find new customers and encourage repeat sales.
WeChat Mini Store (微信小店) is a feature that allows businesses to create and run online shops directly within WeChat.
In 2024, Mini Stores saw impressive growth:
192% increase in sales value (GMV),
125% rise in order volume,
283% more active product listings,
70% growth in active merchants.
Top-selling categories include clothing, home goods, fresh food, and beauty products. Most users (97.7%) are aged 25 and older, with women making up 63% of the audience. Around 40% of users come from tier-two and tier-three cities.
WeChat is making it easier for merchants to kick off their e-commerce by lowering barriers, simplifying operations, and offering new tools for engaging customers.
Lower Entry Barriers
Registering as a merchant now takes just three steps instead of five,
More product categories now have simplified approval processes,
Deposit fees for 25 categories, such as jewelry and clothing, have been reduced by up to 50%, and the zero-deposit option now covers more product types.
Exciting Social Commerce Features
Beyond lowering entry barriers, WeChat is introducing innovative social commerce features to help businesses connect better with customers and increase sales:
Gift-Sending Feature: Launched just before the Spring Festival, this tool lets users send gifts directly through WeChat, boosting sales and engagement (scroll up to see within a live-stream session).
"Send a gift" feature within a private chat
Promoter System: Businesses can now collaborate with community members to promote products in private groups, benefiting both merchants and promoters.
Upcoming Tools: Features like live-stream tracking, influencer coupons, and group-specific promotions will roll out soon, helping businesses better track and boost sales.
These changes are great news for those looking to start an online business or expand their e-commerce efforts through WeChat.
Also, they highlight Tencent's ambition to strengthen WeChat’s role as a one-stop platform for e-commerce and expand its influence in China’s digital market.
