Tag: mobile commerce news

Alibaba continues to dominate mobile commerce

| June 4, 2015

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

Mobile Commerce - AlibabaAlibaba’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.

Google plans to ramp up its mobile payments endeavors

| June 2, 2015

Google will overhaul its Wallet service and launch Android Pay in the near future

The battle for mobile payments supremacy is heating up, and Google plans to launch a new service that will establish it as a leader. The company plans to overhaul its troubled Wallet platform, which has struggled to gain traction among consumers in recent years. Google has plans to launch a new service called Android Pay, which will allow merchants to accept payments from credit cards as well as mobile applications.

Android Pay aims to make physical mobile payments possible in stores

Android Pay is designed to be a standalone mobile payments solution and will not replace Google Wallet. The Wallet application will receive special attention, making it more attractive to consumers that are interested in mobile payments. The app is being re-designed as a peer-to-peer platform, which will also allow consumers to send money to one another. They will still be able to use the platform to make payments to merchants that accept Google Wallet, of course.

Demand for mobile payment support in physical stores is rising quickly

Google - Mobile PaymentsAndroid Pay may become Google’s more favored mobile payments solution, as it is designed with brick-and-mortar stores in mind. Demand for mobile payment support in physical stores is on the rise, and companies like Google want to accommodate this demand by providing new services that make these payments more convenient. In this way, Android Pay will perform in much the same way that other mobile payments platforms do.

Google will face tough competition in the mobile payments space

Though Google has ambitious plans for mobile payments, the company will be faced with intense competition coming from others. Samsung is one of these companies. Later this year, Samsung plans to launch its own mobile payments service, called Samsung Pay. This service will provide consumers with a way to make purchases in physical stores using their mobile devices. Apple also plans to improve its own mobile payments service, introducing a loyalty program and making improvements to its already considerable security features.