WeChat lands in Europe 微信登陆欧洲

Imagine , selling globally your complete stock of consumer goods in only 18 hours and closing the day with total revenues of 640,000 EURO. Imagine that you could achieve this while comfortably sitting in the headquarters of your company, with no physical store in any of the targeted market.

想象一下，你的所有库存在18小时内销售一空，购买者遍布全球，最终收益高达640,000欧元。再想像一下，当上述这一切发生时，你本人正舒服地坐在公司总部办公室里，完全不需要移步至任何一个目标市场的实体店。

In fact, you do not have to imagine.

其实，你不用再想象了。

This was actually achieved two years ago, by the luxury goods company Dior controlled by the French businessman Bernard Arnault, through the use of the Chinese social network WeChat.

这是两年前的一个真实案例。在法国商人Bernard Arnault的带领下，顶级奢侈品牌迪奥通过运用中国社交网络–微信，不费吹灰之力取得了上述成就。

WeChat, created by China’s tech giant Tencent less than six years ago, is by far the preferred chatting platform of Chinese people. WeChat is used monthly by 847 million people inside and outside the country. Virtually everyone owning a smartphone in China is a WeChat user. WeChat does not only stand first in China’s social apps rankings, but it stands far above competitors with an 80% penetration rate. WeChat is followed by QQ, also owned by Tencent, with a penetration rate of 49%. Number three is Weibo with only 7.5% penetration.

微信，这个6年前由中国科技巨头腾讯推出的应用，是目前中国人最喜欢的聊天平台。平均每个月有8.47亿用户在中国境内和境外使用微信。毫不夸张地说，在中国只要是拥有智能手机的人，基本就可以断定是微信使用者。当然，微信不仅在中国社交软件排行榜上拔得头筹，更是以80%的市场渗透率将其它竞争者远远甩在身后。比如同样由腾讯推出的QQ，虽然在榜单上紧随微信排名第二，但其市场渗透率仅为49%，而排名第三的微博只有7.5%。

But numbers don’t depict the most promising feature of WeChat, which many argue has managed in only few years’ time to create a completely new ecosystem, or better put, to re-create the very concept of the Internet in China and to entrench the use of WeChat in Chinese people’s daily life. People don’t only use the platform to chat with friends and colleagues, but also to call, to send photos and documents, to share cheerful moments of the day, to purchase goods in physical shops via QR codes, to read and share news, to play games, to search and buy things online, to hail taxis, to order food and settle the bill at restaurants, to send one another digital money, and much more.

但数字并不能展示微信最为突出的一个属性，很多人称其在短短几年内创造出了一个全新的生态系统，或者更准确的来说，它重新塑造了互联网在中国的概念并成功将微信融入了每个中国人的日常生活。人们不仅把微信当做和朋友、同事交流的一般性聊天工具，还会用它打电话、发送照片和文件、分享每天的新鲜事、在实体店通过二维码购买商品、阅读和分享新闻、玩游戏、网上购物、打车、订餐、在餐厅结账和分账、电子货币转账等等等。

Good news for Europe: WeChat has arrived inEurope. Having set a first office in Milan in 2015, the plan for 2017 is to reach out to other European capitals, including London and Paris, in particular to help European brands to sell, or increase sales to Chinese consumers.

欧洲的好消息：微信登陆欧洲啦。2015年微信在米兰建立了其第一个欧洲办公室，2017年计划拓展到包括伦敦和巴黎在内的其他欧洲国家首都，主要是为了帮助欧洲品牌吸引更多中国消费者，提高它们在中国的销售额。

China is increasingly criticized for its oftentimes complicated market entry requirements. WeChat offers an affordable – marketing costs in the range of 15,000 EURO – and straightforward solution to open an online presence and effectively sell on the Chinese market without having to pay for a Chinese business license or having to partner with a not always trustful local agent.

随着越来越多的声音在批判中国复杂的市场准入要求，微信则为商家提供了一个成本既在承受范围之内–营销费用在15,000欧元范围内–而又直接了当的解决方案，即开展线上业务，在这里商家可以不需要购买中国的营业执照或是在中国有合作伙伴（比如并不总是很可靠的当地代理商），便能够有效地向中国市场销售商品。

The WeChat workshop attracted around 40  representatives of the luxury, fashion, retail, food, tourism and hospitality industries from across Europe

微信研讨会吸引了约40名来自奢侈品、时尚、零售、食品、旅游和酒店业的行业代表参加

On 26 January WeChat held the first presentation of its European roadshow at the brand new Tangla Luxury Hotel in Brussels. During the two-hour workshop, organized with the assistance of ChinaEU, Andrea Ghizzoni, the new Director of Tencent-WeChat Europe, was on the central stage presenting the functionalities of the platform as a powerful export tool to China. Around 40 representatives of the luxury, fashion, retail, food, tourism and hospitality industries from across Europe participated to the workshop, including some famous names such as Jil Sander, LVMH, Ferrero, FederlegnoArredo, Marriott and Radisson Blu Balmoral. Very eager participants were also the permanent representations of several European countries interested to attract more Chinese tourists.

1月26日，在中欧数字协会的协同组织下，微信在布鲁塞尔全新五星级唐拉雅秀酒店举行了其欧洲首秀。腾讯欧洲市场新任主管Andrea Ghizzoni是本场两小时研讨会的主角，他系统介绍了微信平台的独特功能和运作方式，强调这将是各品牌通往中国市场最强大的出口工具。大约40名来自奢侈品、时尚、零售、食品、旅游和酒店业的行业代表出息了本次活动，其中包括像吉尔·桑达 （Jil Sander）、路易威登 （LVMH）、费列罗（Ferrero）、 意大利木业和家具工业联合会 （FederlegnoArredo）、万豪（Marriott）和巴尔莫勒尔丽笙酒店（Radisson Blu Balmoral）的世界知名品牌。同样求知若渴的还有几位常驻欧盟代表处的国家代表，他们也希望帮助自己国家吸引更多的中国游客。

Claudia Vernotti, Director of ChinaEU delivers introductory remarks

中欧数字协会主任Claudia Vernotti致开场词

In her introductory remarks, Claudia Vernotti, Director of ChinaEU recalled that “Chinese will be making 700 million overseas visits in the coming five years”,referring to figures announced by President Xi Jinping in his recent speech in Davos, “Chinese tourists are among the biggest spenders in the world, making up to 40% of global luxury sales, of which 80% are made overseas.” Chinese spent 1.2 trillion RMB (approximately € 163 billion) overseas in 2015. In the same year, twelve million tourists from China visited Europe. If the numbers are to increase this would all go to the benefit of the European industry, be it the luxury brands, the hospitality business or the tourist providers, which today employ one fifth of the European services industry.

中欧数字协会主任Claudia Vernotti在她的开场致辞中提醒道：“在接下来的五年里，中国将向世界输出7亿游客”，这是习近平主席在达沃斯论坛开幕式发言中给出的数字，“中国游客是世界最大的消费群体之一，占据奢饰品全球销售总额的40%，这其中80%源于海外购物。”2015年中国人在海外消费1.2万亿人民币（约合1630亿欧元）。同年，到欧洲旅游的中国游客数量达到了1200万。如果这一数字继续上升，那么将为欧洲奢侈品牌、酒店或是旅游供应商带来巨大收益，而这些行业所提供的就业机会满足了整个欧洲服务业就业市场五分之一的需求。

Andrea Ghizzoni, Director of Tencent-WeChat Europe introduces WeChat to audiences

腾讯欧洲市场主管Andrea Ghizzoni向观众详细介绍微信功能

“What makes WeChat particularly interesting in the eyes of Western brands is that it can roughly forecast when a Chinese is to make a visit to Europe, thus providing a powerful tool to influence consumer choices and shopping experience” explained Andrea Ghizzoni at the workshop. Triggering what is called “super targeting”, WeChat allows merchants to target a well-defined audience, based on age, gender, purchasing power, geographical location, likelihood to visit a country soon, etc., attract them as followers and send them personal communication messages, special promotions or coupons both in China and once they are travelling.

“对于西方品牌来说，微信最吸引他们的一点莫过于它可以大致预测出一个中国游客来欧洲旅游的时间，这将大大帮助品牌影响其客户的消费选择和购物体验”，Ghizzoni在研讨会上这样解释道。同时，微信的“超级定位”允许商家根据年龄、性别、购买力、区位、游览国家喜好等参数进而锁定一个特定受众作为目标客户群，吸引并发展他们成为品牌的追随者。这样不管他们是在国内生活还是在国外旅游，商家都可以及时且有针对性地向他们发送私人通讯信息、特别促销通知或是打折券。

Australia and several countries in South East Asia have already started to use this channel. It is time for Europe to do the same and fully leverage the potentiality of WeChat. Attending the workshop among others were the Chinese Mission to the EU and the European Commission, who are coordinating the activities for the EU-China Year of Tourism 2018. Eric Philippart (DG GROW) the Special Counsellor of the initiative, listened to the workshop very carefully and noted that preparatory activities will kick off in May this year, with B2B match making and high level institutional moments running throughout 2018.

澳大利亚和几个东南亚国家已经开始使用这一渠道吸引中国消费者。现在是时候让欧洲也跟上这一潮流、充分开发并利用微信的潜力。参加本次研讨会的还有中国驻欧盟使团及欧委会代表，它们将是负责协调2018欧中旅游年各大活动的主要机构。来自欧委会增长总司Eric Philippart是本次旅游年的特别参赞，他在会上认真听取了Ghizzoni的报告，并透露旅游年相关准备工作将于今年5月正式启动，2018年全年将穿插丰富多彩的B2B匹配活动和高级别双边活动。

Eric Philippart, Special Counsellor EU-China Year of Tourism 2018 comments on Andrea Ghizzoni’s presentation

2018欧中旅游年特别参赞Eric Philippart对Andrea Ghizzoni的报告进行评论

Anticipating concerns regarding competition and e-privacy concerns, which have recently put under fire a number of American tech companies operating in Europe, Ghizzoni pointed out: “Users are not upset by the marketing messages on WeChat because there is a limit in the frequency they can be sent with no more than message being sent per week and no algorithm is used by WeChat to filter posts or ads to users. On the same token, brands are not concerned by entering on the platform because they are not required to give WeChat any corporate data, so they have nothing to lose.”

近期几家在欧洲运营的美国科技公司遭到了打着不公平竞争和侵犯电子隐私名义的指控。针对这一担忧，Ghizzoni指出：“用户并不会被微信上的营销信息所干扰，因为系统给商家限定了每周推送此类信息的频率，此外，微信也不会使用任何运算法则来过滤推送或广告发送给用户。同样，品牌也完全不用担心进入我们的平台会给他们带来负担，因为微信不要求他们提交任何公司数据，所以他们也不会有任何损失。”

Andrea Ghizzoni poses with ChinaEU team and representatives of The Spanish Permanent Representation to the EU