China’s largest online marketing platform for travel agencies—HowToTrip—recently launched a new free application called “Weidian.” It is reported that HowToTrip Weidian is an online store built on WeChat official accounts, enabling real-time interaction between travel agencies and customers, instantly pushing the latest product information to WeChat users, and realizing the function of booking travel products online via WeChat.
Dai Bin, Product Director at HowToTrip, explained: “Any travel agency user registered and verified on HowToTrip has the opportunity to open a free HowToTrip Weidian. Once opened, users can directly manage custom menu functions within the HowToTrip Weidian app, instantly push product updates to WeChat users, and even share and showcase their stores within WeChat Moments.” It is evident that the launch of the HowToTrip Weidian app provides travel agency users with a low-barrier platform for promoting tourism products, undoubtedly marking another significant step forward for traditional travel agencies in mobile marketing.
(HowToTrip Weidian Interface)
It is reported that the HowToTrip Weidian app offers five main advantages:
First, zero cost and free to open. HowToTrip Weidian can be opened for free without requiring any deposit. As long as users are registered travel agency clients on HowToTrip and invite peers to register and pass the required credibility verification (see Appendix 1 for details), they can open a HowToTrip Weidian app for free, truly achieving low-cost, rapid store setup. It is understood that similar store-opening services on Taobao require a deposit of at least 1,000 RMB.
Second, low barrier and instant setup. Users do not need any technical development skills. All that is required is a WeChat public account (note: service accounts do not need verification, but WeChat subscription accounts must be verified first). By following the relevant configuration steps on the HowToTrip Weidian app opening page, users can quickly get their store up and running.
Third, high efficiency with customizable menus. The HowToTrip Weidian app provides a customizable menu management function, allowing users to perform related operations simply by clicking on menu items, without needing to trigger replies through keyword input, thus creating a smoother and more efficient mobile online store.
Fourth, easy promotion with instant push capability. The WeChat platform has 600 million registered users. Weidian, based on the WeChat public platform, directly targets these 600 million WeChat users, enabling real-time interaction between merchants and users, and instantly pushing the latest travel products to WeChat users, thereby gaining greater product visibility.
Fifth, multi-channel support with online booking and payment. After travel agency users open a HowToTrip Weidian app through HowToTrip, they can immediately engage in WeChat marketing within their social circles, helping agencies acquire more orders through multiple channels. Additionally, the HowToTrip Weidian app supports functions such as online product booking and in-app payments, making transactions faster and more efficient.
It is understood that within just a few days of its launch, the HowToTrip Weidian app has already gained the favor of many travel agency users. It is believed that in the future, HowToTrip Weidian will offer even richer features and experiences in its product offerings, helping traditional travel agencies go further in mobile tourism marketing.