Alipay.com Co Ltd, China’s largest online payment service provider by transaction volume, has lost two of its major partners in China, according to reports.
Alipay on May 23 terminated its partnership with Hong Kong-based supermarket operator Lianhua Supermarket Holdings Co. Ltd, ending its support of the retailer’s shopping card, the OK Card.
The OK Card enables customers to make in-store purchases or transfer money to Alipay for online transactions, according to Lianhua’s website.
The online shopping site 360buy.com in mid-May also removed Alipay as one of its accepted payment channels, opting for a cash-on-delivery policy to hold costs down.
Some media reports also suggested that 360buy.com was in the process of developing its own online payment tool, given that Alipay is owned by the parent company of its biggest rival, Taobao.com.
Alipay is an online-payment subsidiary of Hangzhou-based Alibaba Group. One of the world’s largest online-payment providers, Alipay in November said that its daily transaction volume reached 2 billion yuan (US$308 million or 218 million euros).
Alipay was not immediately available for comment.
An official at a major commercial bank in China who did not wish to be identified told PaymentsSource that Alipay’s grip on the mobile payments market would likely loosen in the future, in part because the People’s Bank of China will soon begin issuing e-payment licenses to new operators.
Data from Beijing-based research and consulting firm iResearch suggest that Alipay currently accounts for roughly 50% of all online payment transactions in the country.
“More e-payment licenses will be issued by this June by the central bank and this development will bite into Alipay’s share,” the bank official adds.
What do you think about this? Send us your feedback.
