Although economic growth in China has slowed, it remains as an attractive market for investors and retail merchants due to its huge consumer base and spending power. This in turn has increased the demand for China-related marketing strategies, specifically leveraging on WeChat as a marketing platform.

Seeing this opportunity, WeChat marketer and serial entrepreneur Warren Teh has ventured into Cambodia to train entrepreneurs and businesses based in the Kingdom on WeChat marketing know-how since June this year.

“I was approached by my friend who is a regular visitor to Phnom Penh. He noticed that a lot of local businesses do not have the knowledge on how to reach out to Chinese citizens who do business or travel to Cambodia,” he said.

Teh told The Post that this trend of Chinese travelling or moving to Cambodia is on the rise and in turn creates a lucrative market for the upscale marketing service. “My potential participants are business owners, self employed and marketing professionals who want to leverage on WeChat to reach out to the mainland China market.”

Speaking on the importance of WeChat as an e-commerce tool to penetrate the Chinese market, Teh, who is based in Singapore, said that WeChat is a leading e-commerce and social media platform in China.

“Especially with its latest feature called the Mini Program which allows users to create an e-shop inside the WeChat app with all the bells and whistles. This function is used for presentation and sales of products.

“When it comes to purchase it is super easy to do it. You just scan a QR code with your WeChat mobile wallet and the product is on the way to you,” he explains.

The Mini Program can also be linked to an official account which is akin to a Facebook fan page, which creates a space for merchants to broadcast news and updates on their products and services.

There are many advantages of using WeChat as a marketing tool, but the key is to fully utilise WeChat’s marketing functions and features, said Teh. This is why it would be a better choice for online merchants to sign up a WeChat marketing course to master the art of marketing in the app.

Businessmen and online merchants in certain countries are unaware that most Western-based social media platforms such as Google, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are inaccessible in China. Teh said this leaves merchants with a few choices to reach customers in the Chinese market.

“They have no choice but to learn how China-based social media apps work and the biggest one among them is WeChat,” he quipped.

“WeChat is not just another messaging app. It is a platform which enables us to do almost anything and everything on our smartphone. With many innovative features that the Western counterparts do not have, it has become the biggest phenomenon in the Chinese market which offers limitless opportunities.

“There is a saying ‘Where there is a Chinese, there is WeChat’. Leveraging on the power of WeChat is the most cost effective way to reach out to Chinese staying in or outside of China,” he concluded.