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Alipay (支付宝) is the largest mobile and online payment platform in China, with over 1 billion active users. It is first launched in 2004 by Alibaba Group as an escrow service for Taobao online shopping transactions. It helped build trust between buyers and sellers. Alipay introduced QR code based payments in 2016 which quickly became ubiquitous for both online and offline payments in China. And now Alipay has become the most popular APP for payment in China. If you want to come to China in the future, you must know Alipay really well.
Alipay’s ubiquitous and versatile platform has fundamentally transformed payments and financial services in China’s digital economy. Alipay’s core feature is instant mobile payments using QR codes. Users can scan codes to pay in-stores, to merchants, friends or for bills. Money can be stored in an Alipay wallet account and used for seamless
payments within platform ecosystem. Users can instantly transfer money to any Alipay account without fees. Bank account and card top ups are also available. Also Yu’ebao (余额宝) money market fund lets users earn interest on wallet balances. More sophisticated investment options available too.
Key benefits for users are convenience, quick payment, discounts and cashless transactions. Merchants benefit from digital money flow. Apart from regular users from all places in China, Alipay partners with millions of merchants, both online and in-real-life to enable ubiquitous payments using QR codes. Lifestyle services like food delivery, ride hailing, hotel booking are all integrated within the Alipay super app. With strategic partnerships with major banks, fund houses and insurers to provide broader digital financial services, which integrates popular apps and service providers like Didi (滴滴打车) (ridesharing), Eleme (饿了么) (food delivery) to provide seamless experiences within its super app.
Alipay is a leading mobile and online payment platform in China, with over 1 billion active users. It dominates China’s mobile payments sector with over 50% market share, 4 times that of nearest rival WeChat Pay. It is the key driver of explosive growth in mobile payments and fintech adoption among Chinese consumers and businesses and Pushed China to become world’s largest cashless economy with mobile payments transaction value of over $40 trillion in 2019, more than 10 times that of the United States. It also provided convenient and efficient digital financial services to millions of unbanked or underbanked Chinese citizens, and enabled small businesses and entrepreneurs to easily accept digital payments.
In China, Alipay can be used to complete payments for most kinds of occasions. Alipay’s ubiquitous and versatile platform has fundamentally transformed payments and financial services in China’s digital economy. It propelled the mobile payments revolution in China and made the country a world leader in fintech innovation. Its ubiquitous platform touches every aspect of finance and daily life for Chinese consumers.
