Whenever you go to the store to buy something, you might hear the shopper in front of you ask the cashier, “Can I use WeChat Pay or Alipay?” WeChat Pay and Alipay are the two main competitors in the mobile payment market. It is common in China to use your mobile phone to make purchases. Stores everywhere allow you to use either WeChat Pay or Alipay when purchasing items. After all, taking out your phone and scanning a QR code is easier than looking through your wallet for cash and then waiting for the cashier to give you your change.
Alvin Huen, Managing Director of Insight Focus, said that China was introduced to Alipay in 2004 by Alibaba and since then was used by over 400 million users as of February 2017. It is the largest third-party payment platform in the world. Unlike WeChat Pay, you can use Alipay to buy things on Taobao and Tmall which are basically Chinese versions of EBay and Amazon. Alipay is the recommended method of payment for these two online shopping websites. This could potentially give Alipay an edge over WeChat Pay since Tmall and Taobao are the 4th and 5th most visited sites in China according to Alexa.com.
WeChat was released in 2011 and the messaging app is now used by almost everyone in China. WeChat has over 800 million users with 300 million users using WeChat Pay as of March 2016. Whenever you go outside in this country, there are people on their phones staring at WeChat. Alvin adds that what gives WeChat an edge over Alipay is convenience, people are on WeChat while waiting in line and they don’t have to open up another app when it’s their turn to pay. WeChat also introduced digital red envelopes allowing users to send money to friends and groups. This feature was a huge success and helped market WeChat Pay while increasing their user base. This also caused Alipay to release their own version of red envelopes the year after to counter WeChat’s red envelopes.
These two rivals are at the top of the mobile payment market and changing the way we view mobile transactions. The usage of mobile payments is most popular among young adults.They both provide similar options including transferring money, booking hotels, purchasing tickets, etc. Alipay and WeChat Pay both have the potential to increase their market share and expand their markets globally to other countries. Which payment do you prefer more?
