Why did WeChat succeed in China? What is its future? How can it win internationally?

1. Why did succeed in China?
What is its future?

2. The reasons behind the success of WeChat in China.
2

3. The opportunity that WeChat capitalized
Grabbing a hefty market share in 2012 would make WeChat invincible
Frustration towards SMS
As mobile users grew bored
and frustrated by the limitations
of SMS, a new kind of internet
based app sprouted globally
Massive QQ user base
WeChat simply needed a QQ
account – which hundreds of
millions of Chinese people
already had
China’s Internet Regulations
The Chinese govt. had blocked
Google, Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube, WhatsApp and any
potential competitor in China
China’s Potential Neglected
Most foreign companies failed
to see that China could be by
far their biggest battleground in
the mobile revolution
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4. How WeChat dealt with potential competitors
WeChat battled with everybody and won against everybody
Rolled out features quickly
WeChat rolled out on-demand
features on an unimaginable
schedule. Every global successful
app was integrated into WeChat
China’s answer to Tinder
With the growing popularity of
Tinder, WeChat introduced a
“Shake” feature to find nearby
users
Diversified into Payments
With mobile payments introduced
in 2013, WeChat quickly became
much more than just a simple
way to talk to your friends for free
The sole competitor blocked
Line partnered with Chinese tech
giant Qihoo, but did not have a first
mover advantage, and also was
soon blocked by the govt.
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5. WeChat became the One App for Everything
Bundled every possible innovation into one app, making it sticky
§ Split bills using GoDutch
§ Send e-Ang Bao on festivals
§ Buy F&B from players like Ele.Me
§ Make payments with WeChat Pay
§ Book a taxi using integrated Didi Kuaidi
§ Find exciting deals using integrated Dianping
§ Get your laundry picked up by players like Edaixi
§ Transfer Bitcoins and other Blockchain currencies
§ Read media, brands and celeb updates on the go
§ Manage your wealth using integrated Tencent's fund
§ Browse the newest car models and configure a new Audi
§ Compare retail vs online prices using integrated barcode scanner
§ Make video calls, share moments, voice chat and customize emoticons
The functionalities of
13+ separate apps
integrated into one
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6. WeChat grew to become Too Big To Fail
User Adoption is critically important for internet businesses
§ Too big to fail - WeChat grew from
195m monthly active users in 1Q2013 to
697m active users in 4Q2015, making it
difficult for other players to outshine.
§ Analytics - The rich data that WeChat
collected from its user base allowed it to
engage in advanced analytics and offer
targeted personalized services.
§ Optimization - With a steady growth in
monthly active users, optimization
opportunities were limitless. 6

7. What does the future look like for WeChat in China?
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8. Future of WeChat in China
WeChat is here to stay! Growing, cutting edge, dynamic and sticky
"WeChat is more like a browser for mobile websites, or a mobile operating system complete with its own proprietary app store"
- Andreessen Horowitz
“You need five or six engineers to make iOS or Android apps but just two to make WeChat apps”
- TechTemple
"WeChat’s future depends on how well it deals with the explosion of information on the app"
- iMedia
~10% MAU growth QoQ Rich Data & Innovation Updates ~ every month ~ Infinite features, sticky!
Thought Leadership
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9. Having conquered the domestic market, WeChat realized
the large potential of international markets and
expanded globally.
Why did WeChat fail in international markets?
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10. Why WeChat failed internationally
WeChat ventured internationally, but failed to garner user adoption
Absence of Data, Features Absence of Partnerships
The global version is only a pale
shell of the Chinese version
Could not negotiate thousands of
relevant global partnerships
Sandboxed: No Continuity
Does not allow you to share
pictures on other platforms
Poor Localization, No Dev
Absence of Intl’ localized emoticons.
Impossible for foreigners to develop
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11. Barriers for WeChat to further compete internationally
The global social media market is a crowded oligopoly
§ Market Entry - It was difficult for
WeChat to enter a crowded oligopolistic
market alone from scratch.
§ Market Share - WhatsApp and
Facebook Messenger held the largest
social media market share globally, that
was ~3x that of WeChat in numbers.
§ Customer Analytics - Global social
media channels had already collected
billions of data points, personalizing their
services for customers. 11

12. Strategies for WeChat to win in international markets.
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13. How WeChat can win internationally
Strategic Alliances, M&As and App architecture redesign
Strategic Alliances
Siri Google
Integrate, leveraging local specific
functionalities and partnerships
Open the Sandbox
Enable Interaction, capitalizing
market leaders’ market share
Open to foreign Devs
Open foreign app development, increasing
adoption and demand driven customization
Acquire local market research
Perform continuous Customer Analytics on
local historical data to personalize services
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14. Thank You.