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Tencent Holdings<\/a>-owned WeChat<\/a>, the super app<\/a> known as Weixin in China, is burnishing its e-commerce<\/a> credentials on the mainland, thanks to a gift-giving feature<\/a> that has boosted sales for online retailers on the platform, according to local media reports and industry analysts.<\/p>\n Chinese live-streaming<\/a> e-commerce firm East Buy<\/a> saw sales at its online store on WeChat cross the 1 million yuan (US$136,586) mark on Monday, with more than 80 per cent of transactions made through the app’s gift-giving feature, according to a report by local media outlet National Business Daily, citing company sources.<\/p>\n Beijing<\/a>-based East Buy adopted the feature earlier this month, weeks after it was rolled out by WeChat in December<\/a>. East Buy did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Do you have questions about the biggest topics and trends from around the world? Get the answers with SCMP Knowledge<\/a>, our new platform of curated content with explainers, FAQs, analyses and infographics brought to you by our award-winning team.<\/p>\n The feature enables shoppers to search for products on WeChat by keywords. After the sender completes payment, the recipient must accept the gift and submit a postal address within 24 hours or the order will be cancelled, and the money returned to the sender. Users can only send a single gift to one WeChat friend per order.<\/p>\n According to WeChat’s official guidelines, prices of products made available via this feature are capped at 10,000 yuan, and exclude jewellery and tutoring classes.<\/p>\n East Buy chairman and chief executive Michael Yu Minhong seen at the centre of a live-streamed show, with the platform’s former top host Dong Yuhui to his left. Photo: Sohu alt=East Buy chairman and chief executive Michael Yu Minhong seen at the centre of a live-streamed show, with the platform’s former top host Dong Yuhui to his left. Photo: Sohu><\/em><\/p>\n East Buy’s latest sales results on WeChat bodes well for the Tencent super app – with nearly 1.4 billion monthly active users – as shopping heats up around China’s Lunar New Year<\/a> holiday, which runs from January 29 to February 12.<\/p>\n The gift-gifting feature leverages WeChat’s vast social network, which is expected to attract more quality vendors to join and users to shop on the platform, according to a research note by China Merchants Securities.<\/p>\n In a separate report, analysts at Citic Securities predicted the e-commerce gross merchandise value of WeChat to reach 1 trillion yuan by 2027.<\/p>\n