The mobile payment market in China reached $5.5 trillion last year, as reported by People’s Daily. The prevalence of mobile payments is evident in Nieslen’s survey estimating 86% of Chinese consumers paid with mobile apps, outnumbering other countries, with the People’s Daily quoting that 60% make small payments weekly. Even those in remote villages can make purchases. Being simpler than other payment solutions also allows smaller businesses to accept payments, and some Internet finance companies have begun spreading overseas. Alipay by Ant Financial Services Group now offers online payment and tax refund services for Chinese tourists. It will be interesting to see if the Chinese mobile payment industry will affect how other countries handle mobile payments.
The article does not make it entirely clear whether these mobile payment numbers only account for payment solutions like Alipay or Apple Pay, or whether they include proprietary options from individual businesses. Personally, I’m an advocate for the former, as having multiple apps to make mobile payments at different stores can be dangerous, since you’re storing your credit card information in multiple, potentially unsecure locations. The popularity of mobile payment solutions like Android Pay and Apple Pay in the US also largely depends on the willingness of businesses to adopt such payments. While I do shopping at Safeway a lot, for example, their terminals don’t accept mobile payments, even though they accept the new chip cards (which are theoretically more secure than the magnetic stripe). That being said, I’m encouraged by the growth of mobile payments in China and hope that more businesses will begin to adopt mobile payments.
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I believe, mobile wallet will continue to be widely all over the world, along with the increasing mobile phone penetration rate. However, which mobile payment can consistently attract and keep its customer in order to win the market share, depends on its payment features and customer purchase behaviors.