<img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://wpimg-wscn.awtmt.com/fc117aa8-dca8-4125-bc4f-235c687b391e.png?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" alt="" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://wpimg-wscn.awtmt.com/fc117aa8-dca8-4125-bc4f-235c687b391e.png"/> Author | Huang Yu
Editor | Zhou Zhiyu
Since last year, Tencent's e-commerce dream has shifted from video accounts to the entire WeChat ecosystem. In order to build a complete social e-commerce ecosystem, WeChat Store is gradually connecting various scenarios within the WeChat ecosystem as a unified platform for future transactions.
On March 31, WeChat announced that starting today, influencers who have opened the video account showcase for sales can upgrade to &#34;WeChat Store Sellers,&#34; with upgrade access gradually opening.
This means that influencers who could previously only sell through video accounts can now sell across the entire WeChat ecosystem, including video accounts, public accounts, service accounts, etc., achieving interaction with a broader audience, which will obviously reach more potential customers than being limited to video accounts.
Upgrading &#34;Video Account Sellers&#34; to &#34;WeChat Store Sellers&#34; is also a key step for WeChat e-commerce to promote sellers from private domain operations to a full-domain business transformation that links public and private domains.
Tencent, which has never given up on its e-commerce dream, has decided to establish an e-commerce ecosystem within WeChat after testing the waters with video account e-commerce for some time. In its internal positioning, this is a WeChat e-commerce that is different from traditional shelf e-commerce and live-streaming e-commerce, larger, more meaningful, and with a higher ceiling.
Currently, the construction of the WeChat e-commerce ecosystem is still slow. However, Tencent's Chairman and CEO Ma Huateng is not in a hurry; he is willing to give WeChat five years or even longer to serve as an e-commerce ecosystem connector.
The internet landscape is ever-changing, and five years is a long time. Tencent, which has long been questioned for &#34;lacking an e-commerce gene,&#34; still has many hurdles to overcome if it wants to build a WeChat e-commerce platform that stands alongside leading e-commerce platforms like Taobao, JD.com, and Douyin under the protection of its largest moat.
Upgrade
For WeChat e-commerce, the implementation of the influencer full-domain sales function will undoubtedly further promote the progress of its ecosystem construction, attracting more influencers, small and medium-sized businesses, and institutions to settle in.
According to WeChat, after upgrading from &#34;Video Account Sellers&#34; to &#34;WeChat Store Sellers,&#34; a WeChat account can bind various channels such as video accounts, public accounts, and service accounts, selecting products from the &#34;Product Center&#34; and conducting business in different sales scenarios. Additionally, it allows direct access to a new workspace from the service account menu and supports management on mobile and computer platforms.
In other words, previously, sales influencers mainly showcased products and attracted users through live streaming, videos, and showcases. Now, their reach has further extended to communities, public accounts, service accounts, and mini-programs.
In communities, sellers can interact more directly with users, answering questions in real-time; public accounts can generate interest in products through in-depth content; service accounts can accurately push product information to improve user conversion rates; mini-programs provide users with convenient purchasing channels, shortening the conversion path.
To lower the upgrade threshold, after the upgrade, influencers' historical data (including showcase products, orders, deposits, and settlement information) will be fully migrated, and there is no need to pay the deposit again. In addition, the relevant rules that have already been published and are applicable to video account showcase sellers will also apply to the upgraded WeChat Store Sellers
At the same time, for merchants and institutions, if the influencers they collaborate with choose to upgrade, it will undoubtedly bring more operational increments for the merchants. Subsequently, when managing collaborations and viewing promotional plans, the page options will also be updated to include the term &#34;sales channels,&#34; making it easier to view promotional plans and multi-channel sales data.
Of course, maintaining a consistently cautious style, this upgrade by WeChat has not been fully launched but is gradually opening up access.
Influencers, service providers, and merchants are the three major entities in the WeChat e-commerce ecosystem. Service providers play the role of providing technical and operational support, merchants are those who provide goods or services, and the main role of influencers is to promote and sell.
According to Wall Street News from a WeChat public class instructor, influencers in WeChat's multi-scenario are essentially the influencers in the WeChat e-commerce ecosystem, which is fundamentally a type of content information and carrier.
At the beginning of the year, WeChat released this message during its public class: video account influencers will be fully upgraded to &#34;WeChat store influencers,&#34; which is the first direction among the four important directions of WeChat e-commerce influencers' business segment for 2025.
According to Wall Street News, in addition to exploring the full-scale sales in the WeChat ecosystem, the other three important directions for WeChat e-commerce influencers this year include continuously focusing on the product features and tool upgrades for influencer experience (such as the newly launched &#34;gift-giving&#34; feature as a typical representative), as well as continuously enhancing influencer incentive policies to support the stable operation of influencer incubation agencies.
The WeChat public class instructor pointed out that what the WeChat e-commerce team needs to do is to assist influencers in growing throughout the entire operational cycle.
Against this backdrop, the WeChat influencer ecosystem, as a key part of WeChat e-commerce, is continuously thriving.
Strategy
Two years ago, the video account became the hope of the entire Tencent, and Ma Huateng also mentioned the need to focus on video account live e-commerce. However, last year, Tencent's approach to redoing e-commerce underwent a significant change.
In August last year, Tencent President Liu Chiping stated that live e-commerce can grow very quickly, but there will subsequently be a very natural growth ceiling. However, if a systematic way can be established to build an e-commerce ecosystem within WeChat, utilizing all sources of power within WeChat, a larger, more meaningful, and higher-ceilinged e-commerce ecosystem can be established.
Based on this, Tencent repositioned its live e-commerce business to make it more like WeChat e-commerce.
In the same month, the video account store was upgraded to WeChat store. This means that Tencent's e-commerce has officially stepped out of short videos and live broadcasts, and WeChat store will support the circulation of store and product information across multiple WeChat scenarios, including public accounts (subscription accounts, service accounts), video accounts (live broadcasts, short videos), mini-programs, search, chat conversations, communities, and Moments.
In other words, the WeChat e-commerce ecosystem established by Tencent will not only be based on video accounts and live channels but will also connect with the entire WeChat ecosystem, drawing energy simultaneously from public accounts, video accounts, and live video across multiple scenarios.
In November last year, at Tencent's anniversary celebration, Zhang Xiaolong, president of the WeChat business group, described for the first time to all Tencent employees his vision for the future of e-commerce: product information should become an atomic trading component that can freely roam within WeChat
In the already crowded e-commerce battlefield, Tencent aims to break the inertia of &#34;live-streaming e-commerce&#34; to seek breakthroughs. Ma Huateng also believes that &#34;the path taken this way is different from others and will go further.&#34;
The &#34;Gift Giving&#34; feature of WeChat Mini Store, which began gray testing at the end of last year, can be considered Tencent's first market-discussed initiative after more than two years of re-energizing its e-commerce efforts. Currently, the &#34;Blue Packet&#34; feature has been fully launched and is positioned alongside the red envelope feature, occupying a &#34;super entrance.&#34;
There was once external anticipation that the launch of the &#34;Gift Giving&#34; feature could open up the WeChat e-commerce landscape, similar to how WeChat red envelopes helped WeChat Pay establish a foothold in the mobile payment sector ten years ago. At present, although the &#34;Gift Giving&#34; feature has not yet achieved explosive growth, it has successfully entered the sight of more people.
On February 5, the WeChat team released the 2025 Spring Festival data report &#34;Cyber New Year Flavor in WeChat,&#34; showing that during the Spring Festival, the demand for &#34;gift giving&#34; to friends in WeChat was strong, with high order volumes for low-priced but festive products such as snacks, candies/chocolates, and plush/fabric items.
At the same time, books emerged as a dark horse, becoming the first choice for many gift-givers, with multiple categories of books, including classic works and parenting encyclopedias, seeing order volumes increase by over 10,000% month-on-month.
Recently, at Tencent's earnings conference, Liu Chiping pointed out that the &#34;Gift Giving&#34; feature has attracted considerable attention in its first phase, and many users have tried it, garnering a lot of positive feedback. Additionally, many users filled in their addresses after receiving gifts, which significantly increases the success rate of their future transactions in WeChat e-commerce.
Future
Relying on WeChat's super traffic pool with over 1.3 billion monthly active users, Tencent's e-commerce business is clearly on a path with greater imaginative potential.
CITIC Securities' overseas team pointed out that WeChat continuously cultivates users' shopping habits within its ecosystem, relying on its mature social network, which has significant strategic importance for unlocking WeChat e-commerce GMV potential.
Guangfa Securities analysts believe that WeChat does not base its approach on the successful paths of other platforms but has continuously sought a business model suitable for its own social environment. The WeChat Mini Store promotes supply and demand through social attributes, and the WeChat environment provides conversion and repurchase opportunities, likely forming a uniquely lightweight social e-commerce model.
To assist merchants in their operations, WeChat Mini Store also launched an incentive program for hot brand entries last year, including algorithm optimization and precise recommendations for gift areas.
By further enriching the WeChat e-commerce ecosystem, WeChat e-commerce has enhanced user engagement and transaction capabilities. Tencent's data shows that in 2024, the sales scale of WeChat Mini Store is expected to grow rapidly, with GMV reaching 1.92 times that of 2023, and the number of orders increasing by 125%.
Additionally, the &#34;Gift Giving&#34; feature has also become an innovative growth point for some merchants. For example, during the New Year's Day and New Year's Eve periods, the gift orders from Dongfang Zhenxuan's WeChat Mini Store surged by 1622% and 661% compared to the previous day, with the total GMV on New Year's Eve exceeding 5 million. Currently, gift orders from Dongfang Zhenxuan account for 85% of overall orders, with the proportion exceeding 90% during certain important holidays
In terms of the important scenario of WeChat e-commerce transactions—Video Accounts, Tencent pointed out that Video Accounts promote a prosperous creative ecosystem through diverse channels and rely on AI technology to optimize content recommendations and advertising placements. In 2024, the total user duration of Video Accounts is expected to grow rapidly, with advertising revenue in the fourth quarter increasing by 60% year-on-year.
However, Ma Huateng also mentioned at this year's annual meeting that the characteristics of Video Accounts include familiar social interactions, with the current audience primarily consisting of middle-aged and elderly individuals, indicating a need to penetrate deeper and appeal to younger demographics.
Clearly, while WeChat e-commerce has inherent advantages in social networking and traffic, its ecosystem is still not mature.
Further enhancing the prosperity of the Video Accounts creative ecosystem, achieving the circulation of WeChat stores across the WeChat ecosystem, and promoting &#34;infrastructure work similar to water, electricity, and road connectivity&#34; remain key tasks for WeChat e-commerce this year.
However, in the short term, WeChat e-commerce clearly cannot achieve rapid growth in GMV to reach the trillion-scale of other mainstream e-commerce platforms.
The e-commerce pie is indeed very tempting, but past experiences of multiple trials have made Tencent realize that this track is not easy to win. Today, the e-commerce industry not only has big brothers like Alibaba and JD.com, but also strong contenders like Pinduoduo, Douyin, and Kuaishou have emerged, and the rise of AI applications has made this battlefield full of uncertainties.
This time, Ma Huateng is also willing to give WeChat e-commerce more time. He stated that WeChat aims to take five years or even longer to build an e-commerce ecosystem connector, leveraging the power of social networking, emphasizing that slow work produces fine products, and aiming to create high-quality offerings, with expectations for more &#34;blue packages&#34; and new ideas in the future.
On Tencent's road to regaining its peak, in addition to AI, the e-commerce business is also seen as a significant boost for the future, making this battle of great significance for Tencent

Pinduoduo will release its first quarter 2025 financial report on May 27, 2025. According to general estimates by institutions, Pinduoduo will achieve operating revenue of 103.368 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2025, a year-on-year increase of 19.07%, and expected earnings per share of 17.107 yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9.77%.

Pinduoduo will release its first quarter 2025 financial report on May 27, 2025. According to general estimates by institutions, Pinduoduo will achieve operating revenue of 103.368 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2025, a year-on-year increase of 19.07%, and expected earnings per share of 17.107 yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 9.77%.

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Tencent e-commerce makes a strong breakthrough

- Tencent is shifting its e-commerce strategy from video accounts to a comprehensive WeChat ecosystem, with the WeChat Store becoming a central platform for social commerce.  
- As of March 31, 2025, influencers can upgrade from "video account sellers" to "WeChat Store sellers," allowing them to reach a broader audience across various WeChat channels.  
- This upgrade aims to enhance the e-commerce ecosystem within WeChat, attracting more influencers and small businesses, while Tencent's CEO is willing to invest five years to develop this initiative further.

WeChat fully "opens the floodgates"