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FEATURE STORY: Rapid Growth of Mobile Payments in China
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Rapid Growth of Mobile Payments in China
A Role-Model for the World
中国移动支付增长迅速,成为全球业界“楷模”
By Harold Murphy

https 2F2Fblogs images.forbes.com2Filyapozin2Ffiles2F20152F092Fmobile payment      2017年,支付宝和网购、高铁和共享单车被评为中国新四大发明,这不得不说是一件令人自豪的事情。根据去年第一季度支付体系运行总体情况报告显示,移动支付业务保持了快速增长:2017年初我国在线销售额达到1.4万亿元人民币(2220亿美元),比2016年高出32%。预计2018年,中国移动支付市场交易规模还有望保持较长时间的中高速增长。中国移动支付市场的确在全球都处于领先地位。

      我国目前拥有超过7亿智能手机用户,超过35%的智能手机用户偏好移动支付,而约32%的人仍然喜欢使用传统的支付方式,如现金。在这7亿人中,有超过4亿人口是千禧一代,这个庞大的群体易于接受新鲜事物和应用。随着打车、外卖等软件的广泛应用,手机支付已成为年轻人最主要的支付方式。在中国移动支付市场上,支付宝和微信支付占据了龙头大哥地位,霸占了九成市场份额——微信支付用户达4亿,电商领域排名第一的支付宝目前有超过4.5亿名实名用户。仅剩下一成用户量供小米、华为、三星、苹果支付等竞争。在中国移动支付市场上,就连17 年年初进入中国的Apple Pay也没有办法挤进前十,经营惨淡。

      中国移动支付走近千家万户,不仅方便了国人,还震惊了外国人:一段配有中国乞丐挂着二维码乞讨的照片在外国流传,大家纷纷惊讶于我国移动支付的超前性——连乞讨都要扫码了?那么我国和外国的移动支付发展情况差别有多大呢?如果我们将中美的移动支付进行对比,无论是在用户规模还是用户接受度上,中国都已经后来居上。原因主要是由于美国的信用卡发展已经十分完善,用卡消费已经纳入了美国消费者的生活习惯,而对于中国来说,信用卡消费并未替代现金成为消费者主流的支付方式,支付宝、微信支付则带来了实实在在的便捷体验。

如今,我国已经是移动支付技术和规则的输出国。蚂蚁金服在25个国家和地区有超过2亿境外用户,微信支付也在10多个国家和地区实现落地。中国移动支付真正做到了领先世界。


The adoption of mobile technology in China can be used as a role-model by the rest of the developed world. With hundreds of millions of smartphone users, innovative companies and the general population’s embracement of technological change, China became the largest eCommerce market in the world and one of the top players in the segment of mobile payments.


The way Chinese firms integrate mobile payments in the every-day’s life of people is quite remarkable. Chinese consumers can now scan-and-pay on the go, order and pay for a taxi with their smartphone or easily split the bill among friends when going out. Other countries in the world lag significantly behind China in the way of adopting mobile technologies to make life easier, which emphasizes China’s ongoing transformation from a cheap-labor manufacturing economy towards an innovative and highly-technological service economy. The following graph compares the value of mobile payments between the US and China – the value of US mobile payments seems completely dwarfed and insignificant in value when compared to the Chinese market.

feature story 01A comparison of the value of mobile payments between US and China


The Sinergy of China’s Retail Market and Mobile Payments


China’s retail market is unlike any other in the world – not only because of the sheer number of competitors, but also because of the way how mobile payments and eCommerce integrate to push the growth forward. China is already the largest eCommerce market in the world, with online sales reaching 1.4 trillion yuan ($222 billion) in the beginning of 2017 – 32% higher compared to 2016, according to a report published by PwC China. In the following graph, we show you how the trend in offline retail spending looks like. While offline spending is expected to grow as well, the growth rate is much slower when compared to eCommerce. In addition, note that there exists an overlap between offline retail spending and mobile payments – a number of goods and services bought offline are still paid using mobile payment solutions such as scan-and-pay.

mobile payment 7Offline retail spending in China shows a steady growth


With more than 400 million of millennials, a demographic group which undoubtedly prefers mobile payments and online shopping over traditional brick-and-mortar shops, China can expect the growth of eCommerce and mobile payments to continue, as well as further developments in the sector of mobile and digital payments. In fact, the Chinese government is preparing an eCommerce law – the first of its kind in the country – which is expected to increase customer protection, online payments security and digital intellectual property rights.


According to Goldman Sachs, online sales are expected to account for a whopping 25% of the total retail sales by 2020. Currently, the percentage is still pretty high and hovers around 17% as of 2017. The rapid growth of eCommerce attracts a growing number of international brands to China, which aim to focus solely on an online-only business model. And with eCommerce come mobile payments, which totaled $13 trillion from January to October of 2017, according to official data. This is around 40% more compared to 2016, and the growth rate doesn’t seem to show signs of slowing down.

mobile payment 4The Variety of Mobile Payment Options for Chinese Shoppers


With more than 700 million smartphone users, using mobile payments is a very convenient option compared to cash or credit cards for many Chinese consumers. According to China Internet Network Information Centre, more than 35% of smartphone user prefer mobile payments, while around 32% still prefer using traditional means of payments such as cash. When comparing the actual market share of mobile and non-mobile payments, the former experienced a lightning-fast growth in the last few years and is expected to account for as much as 85% of the total payment’s market share.


Chinese consumers have also embraced the option to use mobile payments for offline shopping. In fact, in most of the large cities in China, it’s hard to find a physical product or service that cannot be paid by a mobile device. WeChat, a platform owned by Tencent, is one of the most widely used apps in this regard. With around 1 billion monthly active users, WeChat offers the possibility to conveniently pay with mobile phones in an offline store. Simply scan and the product’s code with the app and your purchase is done. According to China Channel, over 90% of users have already used WeChat’s feature to pay in offline stores.


However, a cornerstone in the rising popularity of mobile payments in China has been Alibaba’s IPO in 2014. The company facilitates payments for its popular eCommerce platforms – Taobao and Tmall – through Alipay.


WeChat’s main rival – AliPay – is still the market leader of mobile payment solutions with a market share of around 39% compared to 33% for WeChat, according to World Core for the previous year. Apple Pay, Xiaomi Pay and Huawei Pay lag far behind with a combined market penetration of 8%.

feature story 02In addition to dominating the domestic market, AliPay and WeChat Pay have also been interested in an international expansion by providing the opportunity for millions of Chinese outbound tourists to use their services in foreign countries.
 

But popularity doesn’t come without drawbacks. China’s central bank recently proposed strict rules for mobile payments and set daily spending limits for scan-and-go payments. This move may take its toll on the rapid growth of mobile payments, but nevertheless we can expect that mobile payments will further increase their market share in the coming years. The combination of technological know-how, innovation and the large number of millennials and middle-class creates a significant support for mobile payments in China, which can be used as role-model for other countries that wish to popularize mobile payments and eCommerce in their domestic market.

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