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The WeChat is impacting various areas of the economy and online shopping globally. To a certain extent, WeChat has impacted both traditional shopping and online shopping, especially for FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods). FMCG refers to products which are sold promptly at a relatively low price such as food, beverage, clothing, health care products, cosmetics, and other low-value consumables (Ali & Gawli, 2020; Anouk Zeeuw van der & Aurisicchio, 2019; Brierley, 2002; Meera et al., 2017). FMCG can have relatively small profit margins, but they are generally sold in bulk. As a result, the total revenue from these products is very substantial. FMCG has a relatively short life cycle and needs to maintain a fast turnover rate to ensure that products are not eliminated (Pourhejazy et al., 2019). Online shopping of FMCG is increasingly replacing traditional physical store sales.
The WeChat has not only benefitted for shopping but has also played a vital role in changing the online consumer behaviour of Chinese buyers. Consumers receive more benefits from the convenience of online shopping for FMCG with WeChat. In 2011, the second year from WeChat was created, Tencent Co. launched a commercial functional module for WeChat which has played an increasingly important role in online business. It has impacted traditional online business which has changed consumers’ habits, and cognitive attitudes towards FMCG online shopping (Trekels et al., 2018). Before WeChat, Chinese people were used to doing online shopping from Amazon and Taobao. With this new form of online business, Chinese people who lived out of China spend less time on online shopping using WeChat (Widjajanta et al., 2018).