Tough Existing And Potential Challenges WeChat Pay & Alipay Need To Face In Overseas Expansion

来源:钛媒体

原标题：Tough Existing And Potential Challenges WeChat Pay & Alipay Need To Face In Overseas Expansion

(Chinese Version)

Coincidentally, some popular YouTubers, envious of the widespread usage of mobile payment, all posted videos and introduced the popularity of mobile payment in China and the huge convenience it brings. Indeed, thanks to the widespread of Alipay, WeChat Wallet and other mobile payment tools, it’s common for Chinese to go out without bringing their wallet or debit cards, since they can almost pay any bills and book a variety of services with their smartphone. As a matter of fact, WeChat Pay and Alipay have already made efforts to go abroad.

Recent developments of Alipay and WeChat Pay in overseas markets

1. Alipay

In fact, Alipay just launched a Hong Kong version of Alipay APP recently, the first of its kind outside mainland China. Prior to this, Alipay also provided e-wallet service for overseas users. However, this new version is a more formal demonstration of Alipay’s ambition to go beyond mainland China. Up till now, Ant Financial has already teamed up with local partners in India, Thailand, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia and provided e-wallet service for over 200 million overseas users.

Besides e-wallet service, Alipay has also been expanding its influence in tourism consumption and has made some concrete progress. As of this May, users can use Alipay in many European airports and tax-free stores. 21 Rossmann supermarkets in Germany are now supporting Alipay and as many as 2,000 will join and support Alipay in the near future. For sure, this will make it extremely easier for Chinese tourists and students to travel around or study in Germany.

Besides, airports, DFS’s tax-free stores and LV stores in major American tourist destinations, including New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, etc. have all supported Alipay. It is expected that 4 million American business brands will support Alipay in the near future.

At present, Alipay has already entered 26 countries and regions around the world, including European countries, the U.S., Japan, South Korea, South East Asian countries, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, etc. and supported payment via 18 foreign currencies. As over 100,000 offline stores overseas have already supported Alipay, it has already started to spread its influence outside mainland China.

Having been eyeing overseas for almost a decade, Alipay seems to have made extraordinary progress in both overseas tourist consumption and e-wallet sector. Alipay’s has to do with not only the reliance and loyalty of Chinese tourists, but also the lack of rivals in the overseas mobile payment market.

2. WeChat Pay

Born as late as in August, 2013, WeChat Pay suffered from a huge challenge from Alipay at the primary stage. However, thanks to its huge influence in the social networking sector, WeChat Pay soon caught up and grabbed part of Alipay’s market share. Likewise, WeChat Pay has also been actively making efforts to go abroad, though much later than Alipay.

To repeat its success in mainland China, WeChat also launched an overseas version of WeChat APP in an attempt to build an active social network overseas and then promote related services. Up till now, WeChat has already gained over 100 million users outside mainland China, including Lybia, Brunei, Japan, Macau, the UK, etc. WeChat’s approach is a slow one, so it may take some time, though it’s likely that WeChat might again turn the table and surprise everyone.

As a matter of fact, Alipay and WeChat Pay have already been engaged in head-on competition. To attract Chinese tourists to use WeChat Pay overseas, WeChat has teamed up with CITCON to enter the US market. A month ago, WeChat also announced that it would soon enter the UK market.

As of this May, WeChat Pay has already entered 15 countries and regions and supported direct billing via 12 foreign currencies. Although WeChat Pay still lags behind Alipay, it’s already quite impressive for WeChat Pay to make such progress as a late entrant.

The existing challenge Chinese mobile payment service providers are facing

1. The limit of tourism consumption

In fact, the primary focus of both Alipay and WeChat Pay overseas has been tourist consumption. Although they’ve also focused on other sectors, such as e-wallet and social networking, etc., tourism consumption remains their top priority.

Although an enormous number of Chinese tourists travel abroad every year, they still take up a small proportion compared with the overall population. In this case, Alipay and WeChat Pay’s market is quite limited, since they both primarily target Chinese tourists. Even if all Chinese tourists used WeChat Pay and Alipay one day, this market would still be incomparable to the local market.