While some of Pinduoduo’s incredible growth could be attributed to WeChat, one of the biggest shifts in Chinese consumer behavior has been from the “search, pay, and leave” model of traditional ecommerce to social commerce. That wasn’t just WeChat. Much of PDD’s recent success has been due to its game-like mechanics.

2. Acquisition: cooperative games with inherent social interactions are the perfect vehicle for getting new users. Getting that one avid super-promoter user who can bring on an entire friend group is ideal and was the rock virality fuel that propelled Pinduoduo to growth at its inception.Games often have in-build ceilings several levels in where... See more

In the span of two years, WeChat went from a no-name app to a powerhouse of messaging, media, marketing, and gaming. But Tencent wanted even more. It already monopolized users’ digital lives, but it wanted to extend that functionality beyond the smartphone. Over the ensuing five years, Tencent painstakingly built WeChat into the world’s first

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