artnet is expanding its presence in the Chinese art market with an immersive new Mini Program (similar to an app) built for WeChat, the country’s largest social network. artnet is the first non-Chinese art platform to establish this kind of expansive, custom WeChat presence.

Over the course of the past two years, artnet has amassed a strong following on its WeChat account, fueled by the success of artnet News China, which launched in February 2015.

Directory of Artists page in artnet Mini Program (Beta). Courtesy artnet.

The new Mini Program has the ability to add its entire suite of products to the WeChat ecosystem on the new “artnetofficial” account. Users can now browse the Gallery Network and soon will be able to view artnet Auctions offerings and the artnet Price Database in a few months’ time.

The Mini Program offers innovative search functions and a comprehensive gallery directory. It also allows users to directly message artists’ galleries.

Jessica Zhang, director of Greater China at artnet and publisher of artnet News China hosted “Making Space for Photography”
at 2017 PHOTOFAIR | Shanghai

“Web content is almost entirely consumed via mobile devices and apps in China,” said artnet CEO Jacob Pabst. “WeChat is the leader in that field and the best option to expand into the Chinese market.”

WeChat was launched in 2011 in China by Tencent, an Internet service provider. It integrates instant messaging and social media on a user-friendly app. As of the second quarter of 2017, there were 963 million active users on WeChat.