As WeChat continues to evolve, it has become more than just a social touchpoint for brands; it can also help brands turn traffic into conversions, shared Tencent’s George Xie at the recent Luxury Society Keynote in Shanghai.
EVENTS
[Video] LS Keynote Shanghai 2020: Embracing a New Era of Luxury Retail with WeChat
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Over the last decade, collaborations between luxury brands and contemporary artists have gone beyond mere artistic partnerships towards a new kind of luxury branding.
PARIS – Art and fashion have always developed side by side, for fashion, like art, often gives visual expression to the cultural zeitgeist. During the 1920s, Salvador Dalí created dresses for Coco Chanel and Elsa Schiapparelli. In the 1930s, Ferragamo’s shoes commissioned designs for advertisements from Futurist painter Lucio Venna, while Gianni Versace commissioned works from artists such as Alighiero Boetti and Roy Lichtenstein for the launch of his collections. Yves Saint Laurent’s vast art collection, recently auctioned at Christie’s in Paris, testified to his great love of art and revealed the influence of a variety of artists on his own designs.
In the 1980s, relationships between luxury brands and artists were advanced when Alain Dominique Perrin created the Fondation Cartier. In the Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemporain, a book marking the foundation’s 20th anniversary, Perrin says he makes “a connection between all the different sorts of arts, and luxury goods are a kind of art. Luxury goods are handicrafts of art, applied art.”
The Fondation Cartier pour l’Art Contemparain building in Paris
As WeChat continues to evolve, it has become more than just a social touchpoint for brands; it can also help brands turn traffic into conversions, shared Tencent’s George Xie at the recent Luxury Society Keynote in Shanghai.
As COVID-19 continues to grip Western markets, luxury conglomerates such as LVMH, Kering and Prada have been observing strong growth in Mainland China, especially on their online channels. The 2020 Digital Luxury Report released by BCG and Tencent estimates that 30 per cent of the consumer journeys in China take place online only, making it even more important for luxury brands to step up their digital efforts.
With over 1.2 billion monthly active users, WeChat is undoubtedly one of the most crucial Chinese social platforms for brands. Moreover, as the platform evolves, it not only supports brands in the awareness and interest stages of the consumer journey, but also the purchase and loyalty stages – especially as its e-commerce and loyalty offerings via Mini Programs continues to grow.
At this year’s Luxury Society Keynote in Shanghai, George Xie, Planning Head of CPG Industry at Tencent Marketing Solution, shared that the luxury sector has become one of the fastest-growing categories when it comes e-commerce on WeChat. He also shared strategies and best practices for luxury brands within this ecosystem, in his presentation.
Besides anyalsing the different consumer journeys that brands can create on WeChat, Xie also highlighted one of Tencent’s fastest growing platforms: WeCom. As an enterprise solution, WeCom not only allows companies to improve internal communications and workflow, “a growing number of businesses are making use of the tools offered by WeCom for CRM purposes, management and segmentation of users on their WeChat Official Accounts” as well, he said. Last year, the number of consumers served by brands through WeCom was at 80 million – this year, the number has grown to 250 million.
At the same time, Tencent has also been strengthening its social product offering. Earlier this year, it launched the short video-focused Channels, and this month, it announced a revamp of its Search function to better bring together all the elements within the WeChat ecosystem. How can brands leverage these upgrades and changes to generate better returns from their investment on WeChat?
Watch the video for his full session. A PDF version of his presentation is also available for download at the link below.
LS Keynote Shanghai 2020: Embracing a New Era of Luxury Retail with WeChat
Editor, Luxury Society
Before joining Luxury Society, Alexander was a business journalist covering M&A, finance, technology and marketing strategy at Women’s Wear Daily. He contributed articles to Financial Times, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, WSJ. Magazine and other media regularly as well. Alexander is also Research Director at DLG China.
