In the朋友圈 of every FMCG professional, there are likely some friends doing 'WeChat business'. In most people's impression, WeChat business people are 'idle' individuals in the朋友圈, constantly posting chicken soup and motivational stories, recruiting downlines, seemingly no different from pyramid schemes. You might be thinking with disdain, 'Who would actually buy from them?' But in reality, the market transaction scale of WeChat business reached nearly 700 billion yuan in 2017, a staggering figure that outshines many industries. After several years of rapid development, the social e-commerce industry, represented by WeChat business, has become a new distribution model capable of large-scale sales. WeChat business has long attracted the attention of major FMCG brands, and many have tried it, including some 'heavyweight' players. On January 24, Mengniu's official WeChat account announced the launch of a new product, 'Slow Burn' fiber meal replacement milk, targeting new retail and sold through WeChat business, marking Mengniu's official entry into WeChat business! This new product, 'Slow Burn' fiber meal replacement milk, differs from previous products. Instead of choosing its strong mainstream dairy market, it has created a new category, venturing into the health industry, focusing on 'health and fat burning' as a functional product, competing with international brands like Herbalife and Nuskin. It is understood that this product is only open to online agents and will not be given to traditional Mengniu distributors for now. A 'Slow Burn' WeChat business partner said: 'Slow Burn fiber meal replacement milk is a meal replacement product, not a traditional dairy product from Mengniu. Therefore, the new product will be launched through new retail channels like WeChat business, while testing market acceptance and sales. WeChat business can sell both online and offline, meaning offline store sales also need to order through WeChat business.' According to New Distribution's investigation, this product has already recruited many WeChat business teams. Compared to traditional distribution agency costs, the current agency threshold for 'Slow Burn' is not high; you can get the highest level agency for less than 100,000 yuan. However, compared to general WeChat business agency brands, the nearly 100,000 yuan franchise fee undoubtedly raises the entry barrier for agency of Mengniu products. Relevant data shows that FMCG companies testing emerging channels like WeChat business are not limited to Mengniu. Earlier, COFCO gained attention in the朋友圈 with the advertisement 'Join the Fortune 500 without investing a penny', and its way to enter new distribution channels was through the WeChat business model. Additionally, Arawana (Golden Dragon Fish) public account also used slogans like 'One-click follow to become a boss, easy transactions to make money', calling its customers 'micro customers', similarly promoting deep distribution by bringing customers and facilitating orders. Why have FMCG brands been continuously entering the WeChat business field in the past two years?

  1. From a market scale perspective, according to the '2017 China WeChat Business Industry Development Report' released by the China Internet Association, the overall market size of the WeChat business industry in 2016 was 360.73 billion yuan, and in 2017 it was expected to reach 683.58 billion yuan, with a growth rate of 89.5%, far ahead of traditional e-commerce and other business sectors.
  2. From a market development stage perspective, WeChat business began to rise in 2013, and after five years of development, it has basically passed the 'immature stage of wild growth'. The report points out that with the gradual increase in awareness and recognition of WeChat business among social groups, and the rapid growth of leading WeChat business scale and brand influence, more and more people are joining the WeChat business ranks. In 2017, the number of practitioners in China's WeChat business industry will exceed 20 million, and the number will further accelerate.
  3. From the FMCG industry perspective, on one hand, the cost of traditional distribution channels is increasing, and on the other hand, consumer demand is becoming more diversified. Traditional distribution models can no longer meet the increasingly diverse consumption needs of consumers in the new era. Around 2014, the FMCG sector ended over a decade of high growth and entered a period of sustained slowdown from 2015. Factors such as macroeconomic downturn, the impact of online e-commerce, and consumption diversification have ended the 'good days' of high growth for traditional FMCG brands. Slowing down, or even negative growth, has become the main theme in recent years. The huge market scale and rational development stage of WeChat business have also given rise to a series of large-scale operational teams. Platforms like Yunji Weidian, Natural Workshop, Sibu WeChat Business, Global Catcher, and Ai Kucun provide services such as product selection, distribution, marketing, and guidance for WeChat business. Through professional teams and WeChat business operational experience, they help WeChat business people achieve faster and more efficient distribution. Social e-commerce expert Zhuang Jianzhong commented: Traditional e-commerce represented by Taobao and JD.com took 15 years to finally carve out about 30% of the commercial landscape. When most people finally are willing to face e-commerce, WeChat e-commerce has already developed rapidly. According to industry insiders, in less than 5 years, the total transaction volume of WeChat e-commerce can already be compared with traditional e-commerce. Whether people know it or not, like it or not, it is no longer a question of 'whether to do WeChat business' but 'how to do WeChat business well'. WeChat, as a national-level super APP, has built a very complete 'commercial infrastructure' within its ecosystem, allowing product display, payment, pre-sales and after-sales service, with rich and diverse forms. The朋友圈, public accounts, WeChat groups, and mini-programs are all usable 'fields', giving rise to various forms of WeChat e-commerce. Besides the familiar hierarchical WeChat business, social e-commerce, community e-commerce, community group e-commerce, content e-commerce, and other forms are also maturing. Social e-commerce platforms like Pinduoduo have already reached a huge scale. Mengniu's trial of WeChat business with 'Slow Burn' adopts the traditional hierarchical WeChat business model, while liquor companies like Yanghe and Jingzhi also took the lead in starting WeChat business last year. It can be predicted that 2018 will be the year when traditional enterprises extensively enter WeChat e-commerce. 'Traditional enterprises WeChat-ize, and new WeChat businesses become enterprises' will surely create more legends. WeChat's decentralized, efficient, low-cost ecosystem that empowers individuals, compared to Alibaba's highly centralized traditional e-commerce ecosystem, better reflects the original intent of the Internet, and deserves our attention and embrace. Friends interested in WeChat business distribution models and operations can add the editor's WeChat to join the discussion group. We will soon invite social e-commerce expert Zhuang Jianzhong to share and interpret WeChat business topics in depth. When adding friends, note 'WeChat business'. -END-