Baidu Mini-Program: eCommerce Applet Breakdown

Thomas Price

WeChat has lost its monopoly on Mini-Programs. In the second half of 2018, Baidu, Alipay, ByteDance and TikTok launched their own Mini-Programs to rival WeChat’s dominance. According to Baidu’s data published in May 2019, “since the official launch in July last year, there have been over 200 million active Baidu Mini-Program users each month, over …

ByteDance Mini-Program: eCommerce Applet Development & Strategy

Thomas Price

ByteDance has entered the Mini-Program later than Baidu and Alipay (and certainly later than applet pioneer WeChat, who kicked off the craze). However, by launching Mini-Programs on its two hugely popular apps, Douyin (TikTok outside of China) and news and article platform Toutiao, ByteDance is standing as a real contender in the Mini-Program sphere. These …

Mini-Programs and Brand eCommerce: The Perfect Match?

Thomas Price

Previously an eCommerce trend in China had been marketplace centralization, with the domination of T-Mall and its associated brands. Now, however, we are seeing the space becoming increasingly decentralized, as social media selling takes hold. This is especially true with the advent of Mini-Programs, which can integrate online store-based selling into the social media apps …

China’s Mini-Program War: Will One Unseat WeChat?

Thomas Price

WeChat may have pioneered them, but today several other apps have stepped up to do battle for the title of Mini-Program king. Bytedance (parent to video app sensation TikTok/Douyin), Alipay, Tencent QQ, and Baidu are among the major players that have rushed to launch their own Mini-Programs and incorporate them into the core of their …