What’s happened:
Online payments company Stripe have targeted Chinese shoppers by agreeing on a deal with both Alipay and WeChat Pay, giving users of both payment platforms the ability to pay on Stripe and access Western retailers.
Western retailers have long had trouble connecting with Chinese consumers, in part because of a lack of credit card adoption in China.
With Alipay and WeChat pay boasting 500+ million and 600+ million users respectively, Stripe have opened the door for its clients to a vast new market of Chinese shoppers.
What it means:
It works both ways – not only will the clients of Stripe gain access to a huge number of Chinese shoppers, Chinese shoppers have access to a wide range of Western stores they weren’t able to easily access previously.
For Tencent’s WeChat, this is a stepping stone as they look to target growing the app’s user base in the West. Coupled with WeChat Pay’s recent launch in Europe, there is building evidence that Tencent recognises the importance of ensuring the app will maintain its functionality when their push starts in earnest. Features, such as WeChat Wallet are what will give the app an advantage over current that would make them stand out against other instant messenger apps such as WhatsApp are starting to become functional, taking WeChat closer to a Western launch.
Alibaba also stands to gain significant benefits from this deal. Western retailers adopting their platform will encourage Chinese consumers to spend more through Alipay and the ability to tap into Chinese consumer spending abroad (an established trend among young travellers particularly) will result in healthy gains.
Mailman is a digital sports marketing consultancy and technology company. We help global rights holders, athletes, and leagues to build a successful business in China.
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