Alipay offers payment services on Weibo

By Ding Yining | January 7, 2014, Tuesday |

Online Edition

ALIPAY, the payment unit of China's largest e-commerce company, today teamed up with Sina, the parent of microblogging site Weibo, to offer payment services on Sina as the two companies step up cooperation.

The move was seen as another sign that the mobile payment realm will see more competition this year.

Alibaba, the parent of Alipay, reached a US$586 million deal last year to purchase an 18 percent stake in Weibo and the two companies have launched a series of partnerships.

Sina allowing users of e-commerce site Taobao to open accounts on Weibo and connect them with Alipay means better integration with Weibo's existing service, market observers said.

"The battle is still in the early stage and a smooth user experience is a crucial factor for winning," said Chen Yongdong, an associate professor at Shanghai Theater Academy focusing on new media marketing and communications.

"Payment security is also another key factor, and marketers will have more choice to better connect with consumers," he added.

Registered merchants and enterprises at Weibo will be able to post their merchandise on their accounts, and customers can pay for gift coupons and other kinds of discounts using Alipay's payment platform.

More than 100,000 Taobao vendors have opened official accounts on Weibo and nearly 50 percent of active users at Weibo have connected their accounts with Taobao as Sina stepped up its service for marketers and consumers.

Tencent's popular smartphone chat software WeChat currently has nearly 30 million registered users for its payment service. Yixun, Tencent's e-commerce unit, is also offering selected discount items through the WeChat platform to attract more users.

Tencent announced yesterday a partnership to allow users to pay for taxi fares via WeChat and it joined hands with CITIC Private Equity Funds Management Co to invest US$100 million in Didi Taxi, a mobile taxi-hailing software developer, to extend its service to the offline sector.

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Alipay offers payment services on Weibo

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