Tencent’s WeChat has partnered with Picup, a new on-demand goods collection and delivery service to bring social experiences to courier services. The exclusive partnership was announced at a media launch event in Cape Town, South Africa and serves as another representation of WeChat’s ability to promote itself in local markets. The app also recently partnered with Unicef HK to build fundraising opportunities.
“Our biggest challenge is that when people use WeChat, they think it is just an instant messaging platform,” said Brett Loubser, head of WeChat Africa. “But it is actually a fully-fledged platform and these types of partnerships illustrate this. We are extremely excited about the potential of this product.”
“[WeChat] is actually a fully-fledged platform”
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Users need to follow the Picup account on WeChat (WeChat ID: PicupSA) and register for the service. After doing so, the user can request a driver in their vicinity to collect or deliver documents or packages to and from a determined location within Cape Town by bicycle, scooter or car, depending on the size of the package.
WeChat currently has 549 million acitve users, putting it well behind WhatsApp’s 800 million but also giving it the title of Asia’s top social application. If you happen to live in South Africa and don’t yet have WeChat on your Android, iPhone, or Windows Phone, you can download it here.