In a historic move, Alibaba now allows its e-commerce sites to accept payments through Tencent’s WeChat Pay.
Previously, it only gave customers limited options. One of the main pay options was Alipay, which is WeChat’s competitor.
However, it seems Alibaba has finally realized that customers want more options on the checkout page. CNBC reports that Alipay is run by Ant Group, an affiliate of Alibaba. It was also founded by Jack Ma.
Alibaba wants to improve customer experience
Speaking to the media, an Alibaba spokesperson told CNBC that the company has always been focused on finding new partnerships to make customers happy. They have set their target on making shopping as pleasurable and convenient as possible.
Expanding the payment options customers can use to check out might attract new customers.
When will Taoboa and Tmall accept payments?
While it’s unclear when e-commerce platforms Taoboa and Tmall will start accepting payments through WeChat Pay, it’s understood it’s soon.
This move will hopefully give Alibaba a boost in revenue, amid sluggish Chinese consumer spending. It’s also facing tough competition from JD.com and Temu.
Earlier this year, JD.com announced partnering with WeChat to make payments easier for its customers.
JD Pay and WeChat Pay announced in May 2024 that they are partnering to make it easier for customers and merchants. JD Pay became the first third-party organization in the industry to support both WeChat Pay personal and merchant payment codes.
Alibaba and JD.com, a tight competition
It’s been a difficult year for Alibaba, eating JD.com’s dust. It had to cough up 1 billion yuan ($141 million) in damages to JD.com. This was a penalty for anti-competitive behavior.
The lawsuit started in 2017 and ended this year. JD.com filed an anti-monopoly lawsuit against Alibaba’s Tmall e-commerce company.
According to JD.com, Alibaba abused its market dominance.
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Mia is a multi-award-winning journalist. She has more than 14 years of experience in mainstream media. She's covered many historic moments that happened in Africa and internationally. She has a strong focus on human interest stories, to bring her readers and viewers closer to the topics at hand.
