Alipay Looks to Make a Push on American Markets

Normally when news arrives about international expansion in the mobile payments market, the first thing that comes to mind is United States firms looking at China—or possibly Europe. But this time around, it’s the other way around, in a sense, as a Chinese mobile payment system starts looking to expand its market share in the United States, bringing a few of the U.S’ best retailers to the Chinese consumer.

Alipay is much like many other digital wallets, in that it can be used to buy products online, or even in stores, with a desktop or a mobile option. But where Alipay is different is the sheer size of its user base; Alipay has somewhere around 350 million registered users. That makes it more than three times the size of PayPal, its United States rival. Alipay actually handled fully $9.3 billion in transactions on China’s version of Black Friday, a number that even for Alipay turned out to be a record high.

Alipay uses a near-field communications (NFC) system, that allows it to work by just letting people touch a mobile device to a reader at the cash register. Barcode scanning and a few proprietary systems provide other functions, including user authentication and other security measures. But Alipay’s biggest pitch is the sheer size of its user base, as well as some help with things like logistics and getting stuff into China. There are fees involved, of course, and Alipay plans to disclose such things once it completes the process of going public, at last report.

Thankfully, Alipay won’t be looking to take on the United States mobile payments market directly, but rather pull United States retailers into its offerings in China. That’s a good sign, as the United States market is crowded to say the least, and Alipay making a push into the American market would likely be an uphill battle. But offering firms the ability to expand into the Chinese market is one that’s been eagerly anticipated by many firms out there, and in some cases, it’s been tough to actually pull off. With Alipay smoothing the way, it might well work out in the end.

Even the Chinese mobile payments market is starting to look a bit cramped, and Alipay seeking to offer its users more goods and services from United States markets should prove a positive development for both sides of the equation. After all, when more is an option, choosing less just doesn’t make sense much of the time.