Alibaba’s mobile retail shopping applications Taobao and Tmall have officially connected with WeChat Pay under Tencent, a major step of interconnectivity between China’s two tech giants.
Customers can pay for their merchandise using WeChat pay as well as UnionPay, China Mobile’s mobile wallet besides the existing Alipay tool, using the latest version of the Taobao smartphone application with no extra charge or service fee.
The topic had been viewed about 50 million times on Friday morning on the Twitter-like social networking site Weibo.
One Weibo user with the nickname Cheng Huan wrote that it’s a big step forward for those who want to use WeChat for daily payment.
Alipay has been the sole payment provider on Taobao and Tmall for more than a decade, and by now enabling WeChat Pay, they can better reach those who prefer to use WeChat for its ease of use, especially in lower tier cities.
After testing the function in small batches and collecting responses about integrating WeChat Pay as an additional payment method for several weeks, it is now available for all merchants and shoppers on Taobao and Tamll.
Ti Gong
Taobao and Tmall shopping sites are now open up to WeChat payment, offering new options for shoppers.
Both Taobao Tmall Group and Tencent said they were actively exploring interoperability and partnerships with industry peers, suggesting further collaboration in other areas between the two digital giants.
Industry watchers regard this a landmark cooperation deal between China’s tech giants which, apart from enhancing consumers’ shopping experience, would also provide more possibilities for bolstering the innovation of payment technology.
The total number of Internet users in China reached nearly 1.1 billion by the end of the first half this year, an increase of 7.42 million from December 2023, with a penetration rate of 78 percent, according to the latest report by the China Internet Network Information Center.
The increase was driven mostly by new adoption among teenagers and the elderly, meaning that nearly four in every five people in the country are now connected to the Internet.
Several leading digital and payment service providers have been taking preliminary measures in recent years to integrate services, since 2021 after Chinese authorities urged tech companies to tear down their so-called walled gardens that block competitors’ products.
For example, users can scan WeChat payment codes through the UnionPay application and for online orders within WeChat, they can also choose to pay with the UnionPay platform.
On the other side, Alibaba’s lifestyle and food delivery site Ele.me and video site Youku have also allowed the adoption of WeChat Pay since last year.
The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology’s initial demand was put forward in 2021 with an aim to maintain market order and to encourage the industry’s future development.