Growth of mobile payment market in China and meanings to retailers

Mobile payment has manifested its power in driving consumers from online to offline, and it worked particularly well to Chinese consumers.

by Azoya

mobil payment market china e-commerce

6 out of 10 pay by phone

China now has the world’s largest mobile payment market, with transaction volume estimated at 1.7 trillion USD, three times of the total volume in the United States. According to a third-party research, mobile payment penetration rate among Chinese Internet users had reached 64.7%. In other words, 6 of 10 Chinese Internet users have experience paying by mobile.

The past December 12 shopping festival in China is also a hot topic. Not because of the online part of the campaign, but the offline battlefield.

Alibaba had launched a campaign to encourage people to pay by its mobile app. Users paying via Alipay during the campaign will be rewarded random amount of cash. The campaign had successfully driven a lot of consumers to purchase offline from bricks and mortar stores.

WeChat Pay, another popular mobile payment method is also gearing up for this growing market. It has launched a long-term campaign since October to encourage users to pay every day and accumulate rewards on a weekly basis. In December, WeChat also promised to reward frequent users a certain amount of money. Wechat Pay’s recent partnership with Starbucks also aims at taking on the Chinese market share of Apple Pay, whose scenarios of usages are being perceived by many consumers in China as buying coffees and hamburgers.

Mobile payment has manifested its power in driving consumers from online to offline, and it worked particularly well to Chinese consumers. It was recorded that on December 12 alone, more than 300 thousand Chinese tourists had made a purchase in overseas stores using China payment methods, and the number was significantly higher than last year.

Offline opportunities

When combined with social media, mobile payments allow customers to share their shopping experience offline on social media platform to enable a viral reach. Customers can also follow the official account of retailers after the purchase, to acquire future promotion or products information. The key is to support multiple payment methods in store to attract more offline customers. With Union Pay announcing the support of QR Code, there are more ways than ever to accommodate the growing need for mobile payment. It can be done with a minor upgrade of existing infrastructure.

Just think about how it will benefit retailers if Chinese consumers can be guided from their offline experience to repeated purchase online. Following the official account of retailers on social media after purchase is a way, and placing QR code in stores to attract customers attention(yes, Chinese consumers are easily drawn to QR code) is another good idea. By allowing customers to scan the code with their mobile phone in the store, customers can then compare prices or read the detailed introduction before making the purchase decision. If retailers find a way to redirect customers to their own e-commerce stores, customers might even choose to purchase on the phone and have packages delivered to their homes. 


Related Articles

Is Marketplace Loosing Appeal to Retailers

3 Impacts of China's Positive List on Import eCommerce

RMB Payment Settlement