Tag: alipay

Mobile commerce surges in China during the Lunar New Year

| February 15, 2016

New Year’s celebrations lead to more mobile spending throughout China

The Lunar New Year has come and gone and mobile commerce surged during the Chinese holiday. During the Lunar New Year, those living in China send one another traditional red packets, called hong bao. These red envelopes typically contain money and is something that many people look forward to receiving every year. With the emergency of mobile technology, the way people give hong bao to one another has changed, which has been good news for mobile commerce in general.

Payment platforms enable consumers to send and receive hong bao efficiently

Both WeChat and Alipay enable people to deliver hong bao cards to one another. Both platforms have become very popular in China, as they allow people to make purchases and send money to others. These two platforms have allowed mobile shopping to thrive in China and have given their owners, Tencent and Alibaba respectively, a competitive edge over those that would try to enter into China’s mobile commerce market. During the Lunar New Year, the platforms proved to be particularly effective in serving mobile consumers.

The number of hong bao being send through mobile services continues to rise ad mobile payments become more common

Chinese New Year - Mobile CommerceAccording to Tencent, more than 8 billion hong bao cards were exchanged during the Lunar New Year. This is eight times more than the number of hong bao that were sent last year. This is actually a trend that has been seen over the past few years. More consumers are becoming mobile-centric, which is making them more comfortable with the concept of mobile payments and how their devices can be used to connect with one another.

China continues to be an attractive mobile commerce market for many

This year, the hong bao may highlight the growing importance of mobile payments systems, as well as their value. During the third quarter of 2015, China’s mobile commerce space was valued at approximately $368 million. The country is considered the fastest growing mobile payments market in the world, attracting the attention of other companies that are in this sector.

Focus on security may ensure growth of China’s mobile payments space

| January 20, 2016

Security is becoming a top priority for those involved in mobile payments

China’s mobile payments sector saw dramatic growth in 2015, and this momentum may hold throughout this year. The country’s mobile technology sector has been developing very quickly, with new devices becoming available and access to the mobile Internet expanding. As more consumers gain access to smartphones, they are beginning to rely more heavily on mobile payments services. As these services become more popular, China’s regulators are beginning to focus on security issues in order to ensure the continued growth of mobile commerce.

China’s mobile population is growing quickly

The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology notes that there are more than 1.3 billion people in China with a mobile device. Many of these consumers are using their mobile devices to shop online and in physical stores. The problem, however, is that the mobile payments sector is becoming increasingly attractive to malicious groups that want to exploit consumer information. Security risks are causing concern among consumers, making them shy away from mobile payments services.

Focus on security may make consumers more comfortable with mobile payments

Mobile payments securityA greater focus on security may ensure the continued growth of the mobile payments industry by making consumers more confident in the services they use. To ensure security, some companies involved in the mobile commerce space are beginning to use new technology to protect consumers. Biometric technology, in particular, is becoming quite popular among these companies. This technology leverages biological information, such as a fingerprint, to protect consumer information that is stored on a mobile device.

Bringing mobile payments platforms into new service industries has become a priority

Beyond security, Chinese companies must find ways to integrate mobile payments into other service industries. This would ensure the expansion of the payments market and give consumers more access to platforms they may be interested in. As more organizations support mobile payments, both digital and physical, more consumers are likely to participate in this new form of commerce. Alibaba is expected to lead the expansion of mobile payments into new service industries with its Alipay platform and its focus on consumer security. Alipay accounts for some 400 million registered users, more than half of whom use the service quite frequently.