News this week:
Alipay, China’s leading e-payment company
and an affiliate of the Alibaba
Group, has partnered with Chinese microblogging platform, Sina Weibo, to launch a new payment platform
called Weibo Payment. The new payment service is accessible through mobile app
and website enabling Weibo users to make online and offline payments.
According to Alipay, there are currently more than 400,000
retailers promoting products via their own Weibo accounts. In April 2013, the
Alibaba Group paid US$586 million for an 18% stake in Weibo. The company
subsequently launched a service allowing Taobao
users, Alibaba’s consumer-focused e-commerce arm, to link their accounts with
those of Weibo.
A recent report released by the Payment and Clearing
Association of China forecast the country’s mobile payment to surpass US$132.2
billion in 2013, a five-fold increase from 2012. Market research firm, iResearch,
also reported in November that Alipay accounted for 78% of the China mobile payment
market in Q3 of 2013.
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