At present, WeChat has quietly opened the "Nearby Store" application portal, and merchants can submit information from the background to apply for entry. That is to say, everything is ready, just waiting for the test to be completed to go live.
On March 29th, someone close to WeChat broke the news to Yibang Power.com that the "Nearby Store" function of the small program will be launched soon. At present, WeChat has quietly opened the "Nearby Store" application portal, and merchants can submit information from the background to apply for entry. That is to say, everything is ready, just waiting for the test to be completed to go live.
According to reports, large and small merchants with offline physical licenses can join, including fruit shops, community supermarkets, etc. Once this function is officially released, a very fine-grained offline store aggregation platform will be quickly built within the WeChat system.
It is understood that the "nearby store" function of the applet means that after entering the WeChat applet interface, users can directly see all the "mini programs" in a certain range around the location, including small stores, service stores, shopping malls, etc. WeChat mentioned this function at the beginning of the launch of the Mini Program, and it has almost become the most anticipated function in the retail field.
"Nearby Stores" front-end display page
According to the above-mentioned whistleblower, WeChat has prepared a lot of information templates for merchants. Merchants only need to perform very simple operations and add relevant information to become a member of the "Nearby Stores" and get displayed. At the same time, if you want to have greater capabilities in nearby stores, you can further develop it yourself or find a service provider.
The Mini Program has opened the "Nearby Store" application entrance
"Nearby Stores" Add Geolocation Page
"Nearby Stores" Upload Store Qualification Page
Many industry insiders pointed out that mini programs will have a huge impact on the development of the retail industry. Shi Wenlu, the founder of Aladdin, a small program data statistical tool, believes that the real new retail refers to the traditional retail through opening up new technologies, improving services, expanding the scope of services, and changing traditional formats or working methods. Regarding the new retail revolution brought about by "nearby stores", he listed three points:
(1) After consumers are accustomed to searching for nearby stores, the passenger flow no longer depends on the location with exposure, saving the cost of store location selection.
(2) Through nearby display and comprehensive marketing, the radiation range of a single storefront will change from a few hundred meters around to several kilometers.
(3) Data such as reservations and purchases in mini programs can provide digital value, allowing small stores to purchase goods rationally and improve floor efficiency.
At first, some people worried: Will the "nearby store" be as difficult to cultivate user habits as the applet because the entrance is too deep? Yibang Power Network found that WeChat is likely to set up other entrances other than mini programs for nearby stores, such as public accounts. In the background function, you can see that when merchants apply for "nearby stores", they have already established contact with the official account. There are both official account merchants and new merchants who have settled in WeChat, and there are different information submission portals.
Nearby stores can be connected with the official account
In fact, the mini-programs that have been online for 3 months have been successively launching functions that are more beneficial to developers and users. A few days ago, WeChat announced four major changes to the mini program, including support for personal registration, access to official accounts and apps, compatibility with offline QR codes, etc. Last night, it added Bluetooth, cards and coupons, and access to user communication addresses and access. Scenes and other new abilities. These undoubtedly reflect the more open attitude of Mini Programs and the important role of connecting online and offline.
Zhang Xiang, co-founder of Egret Times and CEO of Feiyan Mini Program, believes that the new changes are a booster given after the Mini Program has been silent for a long time. After opening to individual developers, you will see a blowout in the number and creativity of mini-programs in the next few months, and more entrances will also help various excellent mini-programs in different scenarios really operate.
Zhang Xiang believes that the failure of the O2O industry stems from the fact that it is too biased towards the Internet and underestimates the importance of traditional enterprises; new retail is to integrate online convenience with offline real experience, data exchange, logistics, and transaction completion. And integration requires products such as small programs to connect.
Shi Wenlu, founder of Aladdin, boldly pointed out: Mini Programs are likely to become a threat to Taobao.
"The reason why Ali's ecology can rise is that it relies on Taobao, which has a large number of individual sellers. The mini program is open to individual developers, which greatly reduces the threshold for starting an e-commerce business, which means that WeChat can be like Taobao. E-commerce platform." Shi Wenlu believes that there is forwarding trust among WeChat users, and new e-commerce groups formed by individuals will rise rapidly. "Taobao has no living space for new sellers, and a large number of merchants have been submerged, but the applet happens to be a new traffic pool, which is a huge threat to Taobao to a certain extent."
Shi Wenlu told Ebang Power.com that the menu and template of the official account can jump to the applet, indicating that WeChat has fully opened the entrance in the ecology to the applet. In the past, e-commerce was an official account, and to achieve transactions, it was necessary to jump to WeChat mall, self-developed H5 pages, or guide users to Taobao and Tmall stores, but now you can directly jump to mini programs from the official account to complete transactions coherently As well as follow-up services, on the one hand, it technically realizes cross-screen purchase, on the other hand, it also establishes a brand for it, and it also creates a second purchase opportunity, which is a huge benefit to content e-commerce.
Take Luo Ji Siwei as an example. Previously, Luo Ji Siwei only set up the mall entrance in its official account, but in fact, users cannot directly find its store through WeChat. Seal the deal. But now, it can develop a small program called "Luo Ji Siwei". As long as users have WeChat, they can directly search for Luo Ji Siwei's store, which is equivalent to providing the store with the possibility of secondary visits and secondary purchases.
(Note: At present, the unfollowed applet can be found in the search bar at the top of WeChat, and supports fuzzy search; the applet that has been followed can be found directly in the discovery at the bottom of WeChat.)
Shi Wenlu said that official accounts have changed the media industry, and mini programs will change business, especially the retail industry. Not surprisingly, the outbreak of individual sellers in Mini Programs can be seen within two months.
However, the prerequisite for the formation of ecology is the order of magnitude. To what extent can Mini Programs, including functions near Mini Programs, be extended? Shopping malls and large chains naturally have the ability to develop small programs. Are small fruit stores and convenience stores really able to settle in? Shi Wenlu boldly predicts that it will take some time to expand merchants, but just like the promotion of WeChat Pay at the beginning, WeChat is likely to provide a lot of space for third-party service providers to cover more small programs through service providers. Shop is "sooner or later".
Shi Wenlu also emphasized that he hoped that the outside world would not over-interpret the changes in WeChat mini-programs. "As a service provider, we have seen that WeChat's positioning of mini programs has never changed, and there is no such thing as the outside world saying that changes are made only by yielding to traffic. Any product has a perfect rhythm, and more mini programs will definitely be launched in the future. A function that benefits the retail industry.”
Ebang Power.com learned that Ma Huateng also clearly expressed Tencent's expectations for Mini Programs when answering reporters' questions before: We hope that WeChat Official Accounts and Mini Programs are used by offline entities, and we should pay attention to how offline entities can be better. All online applications are not our goal. It is to help offline entities and developers in the middle, so that applications in various industries are.