With 850m monthly active users, it is unsurprising that China’s WeChat online platform wields considerable sway when it comes to retail.

But WeChat, owned by Chinese internet giant Tencent, is also “the most important platform for luxury brands” in China today, according to L2, a business intelligence company. Local brands competing in China’s $103bn jewellery market have already used it to establish themselves with its audience, but now some western names are stepping into this arena, setting an example — and a challenge — for their competitors.

So far very few western luxury jewellers have used it for sales. Bulgari has offered limited-edition flash sales, such as the pink gold Divas’ Dream range during the Qixi festival, known as Chinese Valentine’s Day, while Tiffany uses it for marketing and customer interaction. Antoine Pin, managing director of Bulgari in greater China, says that while the range sold out within a month and spurred store sales of the same collection, online sales in China remain limited: “The physical touch point seems to remain important for our product category,” he says.