WeChat by Tencent has recently revealed that Apple has opened a store on its social media platform, marking an expansion of the US firm’s retail channels in the world’s second largest economy.
WeChat is the one that made the announcement, and it is currently China’s dominant messaging app that also provides e-commerce, live-streaming and payment services. It mentioned that users would be able to buy Apple products including iPhones, iPads and Macs from the store.
Apple has tried marketing its products previously on a live stream in China for the first time in May, so this move comes as Chinese consumers increasingly turn to social media platforms such as WeChat and ByteDance’s Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, to shop.
Apart from its own stores and website, Apple already operates a shop on Alibaba Group’s Tmall online marketplace.
Smartphone sales in China fell 5% year on year in the first quarter, which marked the lowest first-quarter sales figure for the country since 2014, according to data from Counterpoint Research.
However, during the quarter Apple recorded a 19.9% share of the Chinese smartphone market — its biggest since 2014 — as it increased sales by 6% year on year in a declining market, the research firm said.
