First Tmall ads on WeChat Moments!
WeChat and Tmall are shaking hands during this year’s 6/18 mid-year mega campaign.
For the first in WeChat and Tmall’s rivalrous history, users now can see branded ads in WeChat moments that link directly back to the brand’s Tmall flagship store. This may improve Tmall/brand’s user acquisition ability since it wasn’t possible before regulators put significant pressure on both parties.
Some facts and background:
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1. Tmall was launched in 2008, and WeChat was launched in 2011. But since 2013, the two super apps blocked each other’s ability to access their own data. Created an extremely unfriendly user experience for both sides. The guess was that both sides are too hungry to let user traffic leave their own sites.
2. WeChat has a long history of blocking other super apps’ links from being directly opened or redirected within WeChat. This list includes 360Safe (NYSE： QIHU)， Taobao/Tmall of Alibaba Group, and TikTok of Bytedance. Though it was never clearly explained to the public why WeChat selectively blocked those sites or super apps.
3. On the other hand, most of Alibaba Group’s apps, including Taobao/Tmall and many others, don’t support users to choose WeChat Pay as a payment method due to direct competition between its own Alipay and WeChat Pay.
4. It was only until Sept. 2021 when the regulators called all the internet giants together and mandated free access between any apps. Including users to access Taobao/Tmall directly within WeChat, and Taobao/Tmall or other apps to accept WeChat Pay.
So guess who will ultimately get more benefits from this long-waited peace of China’s super apps war? Will more users choose WeChat Pay when shopping on Taobao/Tmall? Will Taobao/Tmall lower their buyer acquisition cost? Will WeChat get more ad revenue since it is now more convenient for brands to drive traffic from WeChat moments to their Tmall flagship stores?
Feel free to comment and share your thoughts!
