Thursday, February 9, 2017

Starbucks gets big China boost as WeChat adds gifting feature

WeChat users in China woke up this morning to find a Starbucks had been opened up inside the app.

The hugely popular messaging app and social network – with 846 million active users, mainly in China – now allows people to gift a coffee to their buddies from within the ‘wallet’ section of WeChat.

WeChat Starbucks gifting

Photo credit: Tech in Asia.

Inside WeChat’s Starbucks store there are two options: gift a specific drink or buy your friend a Starbucks gift card.

WeChat Starbucks gifting

Photo credit: Tech in Asia.

The gifting option comes with a choice of six drinks and six designs for the accompanying e-card. The cheapest are the US$4.50 latte or cappuccino.

WeChat Starbucks gifting

Photo credit: Tech in Asia.

The gift cards range from US$7.20 to US$72. They can be used at any Starbucks across mainland China.

WeChat Starbucks gifting

Photo credit: Tech in Asia.

Payment is done using WeChat Wallet, which is baked into the messaging app. And then you choose a friend to message the gift to.

WeChat Starbucks gifting

Photo credit: Tech in Asia.

WeChat can also be used inside Starbucks’ China stores for cashless payments. Apple Pay is accepted too.

WeChat Pay, QR code payments, phone payments

Photo credit: Tencent.

Starbucks has about 2,300 stores across mainland China. The chain plans to more than double that to 5,000 by 2021. It has 12,900 across the US.

Starbucks China

Photo credit: Connie Ma.

Converted from Chinese yuan. Rate: US$1 = 6.87.

This post Starbucks gets big China boost as WeChat adds gifting feature appeared first on Tech in Asia.



from Tech in Asia https://www.techinasia.com/wechat-starbucks-gifting-launch
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