Tag: alibaba

Tencent introduces new mobile marketing feature to WeChat

| July 18, 2014

New WeChat feature could put a new twist on mobile advertisements

Tencent, one of China’s largest Internet and e-commerce organizations, has held a commanding and lucrative place in the mobile space for some time, but the company is eager to find yet more success therein and beat back competition coming from companies like Alibaba. Tencent has launched a new service for its popular WeChat application that may take mobile marketing to a new level and make mobile ads more attractive and valuable to certain businesses.

Tencent aims to mimic the marketing success that social media platforms have seen through marketing

Social media marketing has long been a very powerful way to engage consumers due to the fact that so many people use social media platforms on a daily basis. For Facebook and Twitter, marketing is a primary revenue stream. For Tencent, marketing could be yet another way to monetize its WeChat application, which is the most widely used social application in Asia.

New service allows companies to place advertisements on the social pages of their competitors

mobile marketing - social media advertismentsTencent’s new WeChat service allows companies with verified WeChat accounts to pay fees to have their advertisements placed on the social pages of other companies. The revenue collected by these fees will be split between Tencent and the companies that will be hosting the advertisements. Advertisers will be able to target specific demographics through this new service, meaning that WeChat users will see ads based on their interests, age, gender, and location.

Tencent manages to successfully monetize app through mobile commerce

Tencent has already successfully monetized its WeChat app through allowing it to serve as a mobile commerce platform. The app can be used to pay for certain goods and service, as long as the company selling these goods and services supports mobile payments. By involving itself in the mobile marketing field, Tencent may be able to make itself more attractive to companies and not just consumers. This could help Tencent compete with Alibaba in the mobile space. Both companies have taken a strong position in the market, seeking dominance among a consumer base that is becoming increasingly mobile-centric.

Mobile payments will soon outpace payments from laptops and desktops

| June 26, 2014

New study highlights the growth of digital payments throughout the world

Mobile spending is growing at an alarming rate and may soon replace spending from desktops and laptops, according to a new study from Juniper Research. The study highlights the growing prominence of mobile commerce and the role that smartphones and tablets are playing in the field of mobile transactions. While consumers can shop online using their desktops and laptops, mobile devices allow them to shop online from anywhere in the world at any given time.

Global digital payments expected to hit $4.7 trillion by 2019

The study predicts that global digital payments will reach $4.7 trillion by 2019, up from the estimated $2.5 trillion digital payments that will be made this year. Much of this growth is being attributed to mobile shopping. Consumers favor shopping from mobile devices because it provides them with a more convenient option when compared to traditional shopping. Notably, tablets are showing more mobile commerce activity than smartphones.

China will continue to be a prominent mobile commerce market

mobile payments may surpass computer paymentsAccording to the study, China is likely to play a major role in the continued growth of mobile payments. The country’s largest e-commerce organization, Alibaba, accounted for 20% of all global business-to-consumer and consumer-to-consumer sales in 2013. The company has been playing a more dominating role in the mobile space. Alibaba has established a powerful position in the mobile commerce sector with its Alipay application.

Market continues to become saturated with mobile platforms from many companies

Other markets are expected to play prominent roles in the growth of mobile commerce as well. Banks, retailers, and telecommunications companies in Australia, Poland, and the United Kingdom have all shown strong interest in engaging mobile consumers. These organizations are responsible for supporting the growing mobile commerce infrastructure, providing consumers with the platforms they need to conduct mobile payments. The mobile market is currently heavily saturated with a wide variety of mobile commerce platforms, some of which are less appealing to consumers that others. Security is currently one of the greatest challenges facing the growth of mobile commerce throughout the world.