WeChat's new Time Capsule feature is an opportunity for fashion brands

WeChat, China’s social media giant, has added a stories feature to its services, called Time Capsule.

The feature, similar to Snapchat and Instagram Stories, allows user and fashion brands to post temporary videos and content which will disappear after a 24 hour period.

WeChat, which counts over 1 billion monthly active users, can create enormous marketing opportunities for brands and the new feature is poised to transform the digital marketing landscape in China, notes Jing Daily.

The temporary videos can be augmented with music, location tags and stickers and can be up to 10 seconds in length. Currently users are limited to posting 9 per day.

WeChat was originally launched as a messaging and communication app in 2011 by Chinese investment holding company Tencent Holdings Limited.

According to statistics on Business of Apps, the platform is available in 20 languages and works in all major operating systems such as iOS, Android, macOS and Windows 10 Mobile.

Since its launch WeChat has morphed into a giant communication multi-layer platform that even serves a model for other big communication platforms to adopt certain features from. WeChat also provides users with a number of services to send money, make payments, buy products and services, which is why it is favoured by many brands as their primary source of customer communication.

WeChat remains a more popular channel for buying luxury goods than aggregators such as JD.com and Tmall, according to a study by Walk the Chat. 42 percent of consumers reportedly would buy luxury goods on WeChat, and only 21 percent will buy from aggregators. More importantly, WeChat remains a vital channel for luxury watch and jewellery industry: 14 percent of sales is derived from WeChat, which still sees no slowdown in growth.

Photo credit: WeChat website