Alibaba’s Alipay platform is growing aggressively in the mobile commerce space
Alibaba continues to find success in the mobile payments field. The company’s Alipay platform has become a resounding success in China, where more consumers are participating in mobile commerce. The rise in mobile shopping has to do with growing smartphone penetration. More consumers have access to smartphones and tablets than ever before, and these people are using their devices to shop for and purchase products online and in physical stores.
Alipay has more than 270 million monthly active users that participate in mobile commerce
Alipay now has more than 350 million registered users, with 270 million monthly active users. This makes the platform even more successful than PayPal, which boasts of 162 million active users. Alipay was launched in 2004 and saw relatively little support in its earlier years. As mobile commerce began to gain momentum, however, the platform became very successful among consumers. Merchants have flocked to the platform in order to engage mobile consumers more effectively and have managed to find success in doing so.
Tencent struggles to keep up with Alibaba when it comes to mobile payments
Alibaba’s mobile payments platform does not exist without competition, of course. Tencent, another of China’s largest companies, also holds a position in the mobile commerce market. The company has been working to establish a stronger foothold in the sector, but has failed to keep up with Alibaba, which has managed to attract the support of several Chinese banks and other major retail organizations.
Mobile commerce still represents a small portion of the commerce space
While mobile commerce is growing quickly, it still represents a relatively small portion of the overall commerce market. As consumers become more comfortable with mobile commerce, they will become more likely to use their mobile devices to purchase products, both online and off. There are still some security concerns when it comes to the mobile commerce space, however, which is slowing its adoption. As mobile payments services become more advanced, these concerns are becoming less of an issue.
Apple Pay launched in October of last year, but is currently only available in the United States. Apple is looking for ways to expand the service into other markets, such as Canada and the United Kingdom. China may become the next market that Apple expands its mobile payments service into, and the country could become a major victory in Apple’s ongoing mobile payments fight. Apple will have to work with Chinese banks in order to make expansion possible, however, which could be a complicated matter as many banks have already sided with Alibaba concerning mobile payments.