The instant messaging platform has taken on a new meaning for many users, report Shi Jing in Shanghai and Meng Jing in Beijing.

WeChat, the mobile text and voice messaging service owned by Shenzhen-based Tencent Holdings Ltd-China's largest and most used Internet service portal that claimed to have had 468 million monthly active users in the third quarter of this year - is now becoming so much more than just away for people to communicate.

The instantaneous and interactive nature of WeChat, now China's biggest instant messaging platform, is expanding its horizons and has become a primary e-commerce platform in its own right.