Alipay 2019

Abstract

Alipay, the world’s largest mobile and online payment platform, was born in 2004 and was first created as the payment department of Taobao, an e-commerce platform of Alibaba. Taobao tried to solve the pain point in e-commerce in China at that point- trust between seller and buyer. Successfully solving the trust issue, Alipay saw tremendous growth and started to be used on platforms outside of the Alibaba ecosystem. In 2014, Alipay was rebranded as Ant Financial and became an affiliate of Alibaba. Over the years, Alipay has evolved from an e-wallet to a lifestyle enabler. Users can hail a taxi, book a hotel, purchase tickets, pay utility bills, make appointments with doctors, or purchase financial products directly from within the app. In addition to online payments, Alipay is expanding to offline payments both inside and outside of China. At the 2017 World Economic Forum in Davos, the CEO of Ant Financial announced that the company has ambitions to expand globally, and has set a 2billion user goal for the next decade. Held a leading position in China though, Alipay is facing market saturation and increasing completion from Wechat Pay, global expansion is the key for its future growth. However, things do not work the same way in China that they do in the rest of the world. Banking rules and regulations, as well as consumer behavior, vary country by country. While Ant Financial’s goal might seem ambitious, its moves indicate as to how it intends to succeed. Ant's globalization strategy has focused on striking partnerships, making investments with local partners, and going after Chinese outbound tourists. During the expansion, Alipay faces challenges such as competition, regulation, and political factors both at home and abroad. Under such circumstances, can Alipay overcome these challenges and meet its 2 billion user goal?

Detailed information