Alipay Set to Become Asia’s PayPal

Alipay, the payment services branch of Alibaba, already has the lion’s share of the market in China. It controls more than 50% of China’s electronic payments, and it claims $3.3 billion is transferred through Alipay daily.

Alibaba itself is expected to file an IPO in January valued at least $18 billion. The e-commerce platform is similar to Amazon, and after launching in Hong Kong and Taiwan, Alipay is following suit by expanding into other Asian markets.

It’s been speculated that Alipay’s active user count trumps PayPal’s 117 million. The third-party payment platform is especially attractive to Chinese consumers due to its built in protections for buyers of goods and services. Alipay’s escrow service provides consumers with some security and peace of mind that China’s lax consumer protection laws do not.

Alipay also provides a mobile wallet app. Mobile payments are especially popular in Asia, and it’s estimated that $340 billion in transactions were mobile in 2012. Alipay is hoping to lure in more users with sponsored and targeted deals, and enabling of

The first targets of expansion for Alipay are countries with a high count of Chinese speakers. According to Fan Zhiming, VP of Alipay, “In the first half of next year, we are looking at a big push into Taiwan,” and it’s making strides in converting Hong Kong merchants to use Alipay.fline payments with transactions that can be made through sound, since internet connectivity can be spotty.

Alipay is not just targeting merchants. In September, Alipay struck a deal with Singapore Airlines to process ticket sales on the airline’s website. China’s outbound tourism industry was valued at $102 billion in 2012. Alipay is in a position to capture the rising markets
in Asia, long before its rivals.