Wechat officially announced business accounts in beta, which targets business use of Wechat providing mobility and timely convenience for work.
Wechat business accounts provide business contacts managment, tags, transfers of various types of files and documents, secured messaging (only recipient can read the message with forwarding and screen capture disabled). Business account is in separate interface from regular Wechat accounts and official accounts. In addition, businesses and enterprises can create custom applications with Wechat open API.
Some companies have already started using Wechat business accounts, including China Mobile, Häagen-Dazs, China Eastern Airlines, etc.
The most popular instant messenger QQ, which is also from Tencent, already offers Business QQ for enterprise use. Wechat’s business accounts complement business QQ on mobility and at the same time compete with it.
This month, Wechat also launched a “card payment” feature with which users can make fast payment at supported retail chains. In addition to business accounts, companies can also utilize the Wechat advertising platform to drive traffic and app downloads, and increase Wechat fans.