Tag: china mobile commerce

Gamification of mobile payments is a hit with consumers

Tencent, one of China’s largest Internet organizations, has been finding a great deal of success in the mobile commerce field, and this may be due to the company’s approach on the mobile space. Mobile payments have been growing in popularity, but there is little incentive for consumers to stick with one mobile service in particular over another. Tencent’s WeChat platform is one of the most widely used mobile applications in the world, but it has only very recently begun to support mobile payments. In a relatively short amount of time, the platform has managed to win consumer loyalty through its unique approach to mobile commerce.

Tencent help digitize a longstanding tradition in China

Tencent has successfully “gamified” mobile payments, making it more appealing to consumers in general. In February, Tencent introduced a new way for people to celebrate one of the oldest traditions of the Chinese New Year: The exchange of hongbao, small, red envelopes that contain money. Every years, people throughout China exchange hongbao, but technology is beginning to play a role in the evolution of this longstanding tradition. Tencent introduced a new feature for its WeChat platform that effectively digitized hongbao.

Initiative encourages people to spend more through the WeChat platform

The service allowed people to send and receive digital hongbao, but the service also introduced some competition to the tradition. Using WeChat, people had the ability to make a red envelope containing money available to 20 people. The first ten people to claim the envelope would get a share of this money, creating an incentive for more people to use the WeChat platform. This competition actually encouraged people to spend more money through the platform.

Gamification of mobile commerce could make Tencent a leader in the mobile field

Gamification is nothing new in the mobile field. Many successful mobile applications have managed to attract support from consumers because they were able to turn everyday activities into an enjoyable game. Tencent’s ability to turn mobile commerce into a game could make it one of the leaders of the mobile field, especially if people continue to respond well to the company’s efforts.

The tech manufacturer has seen considerable challenges in the country, but it appears to be making headway.

While Apple has struggled to take hold in mobile commerce in China, a highly desirable market, the latest figures are starting to indicate that the manufacturer is starting to find it increasingly easy to sell its iOS based devices within this most populated country in the world.

A recent report from Bloomberg has revealed that Apple is opening many new retail shops in China.

Though this has not necessarily been officially announced, the mobile commerce news has shown that Apple has been hiring a massive new crew of managers in order to be able to provide the various locations with staff. So far, it appears as though there will be six new Apple stores in the works to one day open their doors in various places across China.

The hiring to enhance this mobile commerce experience is occurring in six Chinese cities.

It is therefore assumed that there will be one Apple store placed in each of those various urban areas. The hiring is for outlets that will be located in Shenyang, Chongqing, Hangzhou, Zhengzhou, Wuxi, and Tianjin.

At the moment, none of those cities have an Apple retail store location, which makes it appear even more evident that any hiring that will occur there will be for a shop that will be opening its doors in the future, as it cannot be for one that is already in existence. Another indicator that has been suggesting that the stores will be coming soon is that there is another iPhone anticipated before the end of the year. In fact, the majority of the mobile technology industry is in relative agreement that it will be launched by this fall.

That said, while it is quite likely that Apple retail stores will be opening in those Chinese cities in order to take advantage of the mobile commerce opportunity of having more shops in this massively populated country once the iPhone 6 is released, that also has not been confirmed by any official sources. Equally, it would make the spread of the devices in China much easier for the country if the doors were open in time.