Bargain-hunters flash the Alipay Wallet QR codes on their smartphones at a Hangzhou supermarket checkout to avail 10 percent discount on their shopping.(Photo/China Daily)
For instance, ever since Carrefour China connected with Alipay, its average payment time has shrunk from 1 minute per customer to 15 seconds. "Apart from improved cashier efficiency, use of Alipay could bring offline businesses the advantage of shopping analytics, which could help improve their procurement and marketing decisions," said Xuan.
All this convenience costs no more than a tiny percentage of each transaction value for offline establishments. Another source of revenue for mobile wallet players is precious data on consumer behavior. Which is why, consumers do not incur any charges for using mobile wallets. In a sense, it is a data-for-service barter.
According to Xuan, Alipay has already been able to enlist half-a-million store partners. More than 900,000 taxis and private cars allow passengers to pay via Alipay Wallet. And 37,000 vending machines will accept Alipay Wallet payments by June 2016.
Tencent said it signed up more than 200,000 store partners by October. Baidu, whose Baidu Wallet is, relatively, a latecomer to the market, didn't reveal the number of its offline business partners.
Alipay Wallet leads for now. But Li Chao, an analyst with iResearch Consulting Group, said WeChat may soon challenge it. "WeChat has more than 650 million monthly active users while Alipay Wallet has about 270 million monthly active users. If WeChat can successfully turn half of its users into mobile payment users, it would make quite a strong competitor of Alipay Wallet."
In February 2015, WeChat teamed up with China Central Television's Spring Festival gala, the hours-long, widely watched program, and broadcast messages in between, urging its users among the viewers to link their debit cards to their WeChat accounts.
Millions who did received virtual red envelopes worth 500 million yuan in all from WeChat and its business partners. "About 200 million people have linked their debit cards to WeChat. The majority did that in the year 2015, prompted by the red envelope campaign," said Tencent.
So, earlier this month, Alipay retaliated by clinching a similar deal with CCTV for the next year's Spring Festival. Come the February 7 gala, it will send out virtual red envelopes during the CCTV broadcast. Alipay didn't reveal details of its deal, but market rumor is, it may have spent up to 269 million yuan.
What users say about mobile wallets
Generally, I use Alipay when I am shopping on Taobao and Tmall, the two e-commerce sites run by Alibaba. But when I place a meal order online, I use WeChat because for most sites, it is their top choice. When stores support both Alipay and WeChat, I will choose the one that offers the largest discount. But both of them are pretty convenient and allow me to go anywhere with no cash.
Tan Huiwen, 26, public servant
I prefer Alipay, because I have been using it since 2009. It is difficult for me to change the habit. Besides, compared with WeChat, far more apps, websites and offline supermarkets support Alipay. The latter also offers more convenient services. For instance, it takes one day to transfer money from the WeChat account to my bank account, but the same process takes only two hours on the mobile version of Alipay. If Apple rolls out its payment tool in China, I will give it a try. But I doubt whether it will be widely used at offline stores. After all, it is not easy for a foreign company to enter the financial services market in China.
Lu Yao, 24, freshman at university
I trust Alipay the most because it was started as a professional mobile payment platform. I think it places safety as a top priority and has a good reputation for facilitating money transfers and protecting consumers' money online. In comparison, WeChat is chiefly a social networking platform. I have many friends on my account, which makes me think it is unsafe to place too much money on it. Also, I have some doubts about its encryption technology.
Wang Liming, 26, researcher
I am a loyal user of Alipay, so are most of my friends, as Alipay has set up its own ecosystem, with many sites and brick-and-mortar stores as its partners. WeChat is used for sending red envelopes to friends and repay friendly debts. I use WeChat for online or offline shopping on rare occasions.
Deng Liuyuqin, 25, a third-year undergraduate student
For me, WeChat is more convenient. As a social networking site, it plays an important role in connecting me with others and I spend tons of time on it. So, if I want to transfer money or send red envelopes to my friends, I can directly search his name on the app. Why bother to open another mobile application like Alipay? But when it comes to offline buying, credits cards are more convenient than WeChat. The former also have bonus points programs. This means, the more frequently I use credit cards, the larger discounts I'd get. If Applepay is safer and more convenient than WeChat, I will definitely use the former.
Cai Yongjun, 37, general manager
I have no personal preference for either WeChat or Alipay. It all depends on which payment tools stores support. But out of concern for safety, I only link my Alipay and WeChat accounts to my credit cards rather than debit cards. When I buy something at brick-and-mortar stores, I also use credit cards the most, because I don't need to return the money immediately and it can help boost my credit standing in banks. The use of mobile payment tools is relatively rare unless they offer discounts at outlets.
Guan Yongnian, 38, an entrepreneur
