Tencent WeChat Shops have increased their incentives.
Author | Huang Yu
In order to further boost sales of WeChat Stores, Tencent is pouring real money and traffic dividends into livestream rooms.
According to the latest official announcement, "WeChat Store 2026 618 Platform Promotion," WeChat Store will increase traffic incentives to more than three times the 2025 level ahead of the 2026 618 festival. During the event, accounts participating in major livestreams can receive up to 2 million points in e-commerce growth card incentives.
It is reported that whether brand merchants or independent influencers, as long as their GMV reaches 300,000 yuan during the 2026 618 promotion, they can unlock the platform's tiered incentives.
When the GMV of a major livestream exceeds 3 million yuan, merchants can enjoy a maximum growth card rebate of up to 2.5% of their GMV.
Different from past 618 promotions, WeChat e-commerce is, for the first time, reaching into the core territory of traditional e-commerce with new gameplay, launching the "618 cross-store rebate subsidy."
To attract premium brands to participate deeply, WeChat e-commerce also promises 100% platform-funded subsidies for qualified brand merchants.
Social fission remains the most difficult defensive weapon for competitors to replicate within the WeChat ecosystem.
During the 618 promotion, users who share WeChat Store coupons with friends have a chance to receive corresponding expansion coupons.
Obviously, Tencent hopes to convert more massive private domain traffic into GMV for the open market.
In recent years, Tencent's e-commerce ambitions have evolved from single short video livestream rooms to a full-scale battle across the WeChat ecosystem.
Tencent President Liu Chiping once stated that livestream e-commerce can grow quickly, but there will soon be a very natural upper limit. However, if a systematic e-commerce ecosystem can be built within WeChat, leveraging all sources of power in WeChat, it can create a bigger, more meaningful ecosystem with a much higher ceiling.
Based on this, Tencent has repositioned its livestream e-commerce business to make it more like WeChat e-commerce.
In August 2024, Tencent officially upgraded “Video Channel Stores” to “WeChat Stores.”
This means that Tencent’s e-commerce has formally stepped out of short video and livestream rooms, and WeChat Stores will support the circulation of shop and product information across multiple WeChat scenarios—including public accounts (subscription accounts, service accounts), video channels (livestreams, short videos), mini-programs, Search, chat sessions, communities, and Moments.
Later, in March 2025, WeChat announced a full upgrade of Video Channel Store influencers to “WeChat Store sellers,” allowing one account to simultaneously bind to video channels, public accounts, service accounts, and mini-programs across various scenarios.
Influencers are no longer confined to narrow short video or livestream grids; they now have the freedom to reach all 1.3 billion users across the WeChat ecosystem.
WallstreetCN has learned from the 2026 WeChat Open Class PRO that the scale of all-domain sales by WeChat Store sellers in 2025 more than doubled compared to 2024.
In addition, the average monthly number of active selling merchants in WeChat Stores in 2025 was 1.7 times that of the same period in 2024, GPM grew to 1.5 times, and the scale of brand sales growth in 2025 reached 4.3 times the platform growth rate. Buyers overall showed a younger, higher-quality profile.
Supporting these merchants' high growth are the rapid and continuous iterations of WeChat Store product features.
In 2025, WeChat Store intensively launched a series of social trading components with distinct WeChat characteristics, such as "Send Gifts," "Buy Together," "Like & Buy," and "Combo Purchase."
These features, to a certain extent, break the monotonous “search-buy” path of traditional e-commerce, integrating transactions into daily social conversations, Moments, and public account content.
Although WeChat e-commerce has never produced a sales report comparable to mainstream e-commerce platforms in terms of GMV, Tencent appears to be unconcerned about WeChat e-commerce’s sales growth.
Pony Ma has clearly stated his willingness to give WeChat e-commerce five years or even longer to unleash the power of social interaction, taking the time to craft quality products.
At this year’s 2025 annual employee conference, Pony Ma also remarked with meaning that Video Channel and WeChat e-commerce each have their own growth logic and trajectories. How to combine their characteristics with new technology upgrades requires more patience and time; act after planning.
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