Today, smartphones are a part of people’s lives all around the world, but in China, smartphone usage is taken to a whole new level. Why do the Chinese use mobile phones so often and what exactly are they doing?

Everyone has a smartphone these days. In China, the number of smartphone users is estimated to be 699.04 million. Not only do they have a smartphone but they also use it a lot. Chinese people spent on average three hours per day on their phone. More than 95% of internet users in the country use primarily their mobile phones to go online, what makes Chinese a true mobile native nation. But why do the Chinese use their phone this often and what are they exactly doing?

What is WeChat?

WeChat is a all in one mobile application that concentrates utility, communication and entertainment. It is like Facebook, WhatsApp, Tinder, CandyCrush and Apple Pay at the same time. In addition, the application still acts as a platform, allowing other companies to develop mini applications on their system. The ease and convenience provided by these tools enabled the application to reach almost one billion users, mostly in the Chinese market. 

Communication and Social Media

WeChat originally started as a messenger for phones, similar to WhatsApp, but nowadays it has developed into a platform not only for connecting with your friends and family, but also with companies. It has built the WeChat Moments, similar where you can share your favorite pictures, videos, songs and messages with all your contacts, for the consumers and public accounts, which are owned by independent companies, brands and publishers. These public accounts offer services and information about their products or company.

Utility and Payments

WeChat has many other functions that make the daily life way easier. By linking your account to a bank card you can set up the WeChat Wallet. This can be used to transfer money to any of your contacts, make in-store payments, e-commerce payments, split a bill, pay a taxi, buy groceries online, pay your utility bills and even set up a personal savings account!

Travel and leisure

As far as traveling and tourism goes, the application allows you to share real time location, book plane and train tickets, make hotel reservations and many other functionalities. Shake to Win is helping Chinese travelers to travel independently and experience the local culture more easily. It is becoming increasingly popular for Chinese tourists to explore foreign cities and locations on their own, with the help of a mobile device. Destinations can list their activities on our platform, not only shopping places, but also other activities like listing places where you can eat local food, museums, amusement parks and such. 

Mini Apps inside WeChat Eco-system

WeChat mini-apps are sub-applications inside the WeChat ecosystem. They usually provide advanced features to users such as e-commerce, coupons, location based services, etc. They also have the ability to better convert from WeChat content to bookings and purchases since no download is required. Shake to Win is a good example of mini application, built on WeChat, that is able to leverage the power of this all in one platform. 

Sources:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-06/28/content_29916889.htm
http://www.techinasia.com/how-wechat-is-really-used-in-china
https://medium.com/@charliecliu/everything-you-need-to-know-about-alipay-and-wechat-pay-2e5e6686d6dc