news

although late, it has arrived. once again, important news has come regarding the interoperability between taobao and wechat pay.

following an exclusive report by a beijing business daily reporter on september 4 that taobao was about to fully open wechat pay, wechat pay responded to the reporter that afternoon that the function adaptation with taobao platform merchants was currently being opened, and the specific launch time could be paid attention to the taobao platform announcement; immediately afterwards, taobao’s official website issued a solicitation for opinions on adding wechat payment capabilities, and planned to add wechat payment capabilities; in addition, alipay also stated that openness, collaboration, innovation, and sharing are the basic spirit of the internet, as well as the general trend of industry development, and will increase open cooperation in internet technology, ai technology products, and a broader ecosystem.

all signs indicate that the era of "using wechat pay on taobao platform" that consumers have been looking forward to is about to arrive.

opening in progress

on september 4, a beijing business daily reporter learned exclusively from an informed source that the taobao platform will soon fully support wechat payment.

a beijing business daily reporter noticed that as early as the beginning of this year, the topic of "taobao orders can be paid directly with wechat" had become a hot search. at that time, taobao's official customer service responded that the wechat payment function was only open to some users and only supported the purchase of some products, but also stated that this function will gradually cover all users.

however, as of 17:00 on september 4, wechat pay has not yet appeared on the taobao app. in response, taobao's official customer service revealed to the beijing business daily reporter that "taobao is committed to improving consumers' shopping experience and is currently inviting merchants to open wechat pay in batches."

this news was also confirmed by wechat pay. on the same day, in response to the fact that taobao will soon be fully connected to wechat pay, the relevant person in charge of wechat pay responded to the beijing business daily reporter, saying, "currently, the function adaptation with taobao platform merchants is being opened. please pay attention to the taobao platform announcement for the specific launch time."

it is not an internal test and there is no need to copy a link. regarding the specific payment method, the relevant person in charge of wechat pay revealed that "merchants that meet the relevant regulations and requirements of both platforms can choose to open wechat pay on their own. after the function is launched, users can directly choose to use wechat pay when making transactions."

coincidentally, in the afternoon of the same day, taobao’s official website also further released a solicitation of opinions on the addition of wechat payment capabilities, stating that “in order to enhance consumers’ shopping experience, taobao plans to add wechat payment capabilities. based on the addition of the above services, taobao intends to make adjustments to the platform rules.”

historic breakthrough

consumers have high expectations for the interoperability between taobao and wechat pay.

on september 4, in a vote on a related topic, more than 18,000 people participated in the vote on the payment methods that users usually use, of which 14,000 chose wechat pay and more than 6,000 chose alipay.

“wechat users are ecstatic”, “payment will be much more convenient in the future”... from the fact that this topic has been on the hot search list many times and the enthusiastic comments from netizens, it is not difficult to see that taobao’s full integration into wechat payment is what everyone expected and a win-win result for all parties.

as wang pengbo, chief analyst at broadcom consulting, commented, cross-cooperation between different platforms and payment tools is conducive to improving payment convenience and boosting consumption vitality, which is in line with the original intention of interoperability required by regulators. for the payment industry, it also indicates that the industry has more opportunities to break the original pattern and provides more possibilities for payment technology innovation.

"specifically for institutions, this move also sets an example for future cooperation between more payment tools and platforms. for example, jd.com may be connected to alipay in the future, or wechat as a platform may be connected to more payment tools. in fact, the whole society should be happy to see such cooperation, which will provide users with more payment options and further enhance convenience," said wang pengbo.

su xiaorui, a senior researcher at suxi zhiyan, also said that the market had actually long expected taobao to connect to wechat pay, and that full access was finally achieved after continuous pilot testing, marking a historic breakthrough in the interconnection between giants and would serve as a good demonstration effect for the industry to further carry out interconnection work in the future.

in su xiaorui's view, this access will not only bring diversified payment options to users of e-commerce platforms, but also promote the expansion of consumption. it will also help connected third-party payment institutions (such as wechat pay) to further increase transaction frequency and volume, which is in line with the current trend of openness and mutual benefit.

it is generally believed that the addition of wechat pay to taobao on the basis of multiple payment tools will have no substantial impact on alipay.

as early as 2021, unionpay quickpass could be used for consumption on taobao. since then, taobao has gradually connected to mainstream payment tools such as digital rmb, wing payment, and hebao.

"from the actual results, this is not the first time that taobao has introduced more payment companies, and alipay has provided taobao with new payment channels more than once. alipay is still the first choice for taobao's payment page, and alipay will continue to provide services for taobao in the future. considering the historical origins and familiarity, some future innovative payment methods will most likely occur between taobao and alipay." wang pengbo believes that in recent years, alipay has increased its openness and product innovation both online and offline, and the proportion of non-taobao business in alipay's transaction market should be increasing year by year.

su xiaorui also pointed out, "this also means that the old labels of alipay such as 'taobao's sister company' will be diluted, reflecting the clear and neutral relationship between alipay and taobao, which will be beneficial for alipay to further consolidate its market reputation, expand incremental customers, and tap into cooperation potential."

when asked about the impact on wechat pay's business, the relevant person in charge of wechat pay also responded that wechat pay has previously carried out payment interoperability cooperation with unionpay quickpass, jd pay, payment platforms under the three major operators, and digital rmb. it will continue to explore in the future and continue to provide convenience to users on the basis of ensuring transaction security.

“tearing down walls” between large factories

in fact, the payment interconnection between alibaba and tencent has been continuously promoted. just recently on august 19, a beijing business daily reporter found that taobao and wechat pay have achieved interconnection and interoperability. there is no need for internal testing or copying links. you can directly jump to wechat to complete the payment process.

at the same time, as early as 2021, alibaba's applications such as ele.me, youku, damai, kaola, and shuqi have all been connected to wechat pay.

it is worth noting that in addition to the news about taobao and wechat pay, meituan waimai and meituan hotels officially entered alipay on september 4. industry insiders pointed out that the "removal of walls" between large companies has ushered in a milestone progress, and china's internet industry will usher in a new round of "interconnection".

openness, collaboration, innovation, and sharing are the basic spirit of the internet and the general trend of industry development. on the same day, alipay stated that it would uphold this spirit, continue to deepen strategic cooperation with taotian group, increase technological innovation and product innovation, and continue to create greater value for merchants and consumers. in the future, alipay will increase open cooperation not only in payment products, but also in internet technology, ai technology products, and a wider ecosystem, to help the vitality and prosperity of the digital economy and open up a larger business space for the alipay platform.

the aforementioned wechat pay official also said that wechat pay has always upheld an open cooperation philosophy and actively explored interoperability and cooperation with various fields.

in the industry's view, full interoperability is a major trend, and it is only a matter of time before payment giants "break the wall". it is expected that the subsequent payment interconnection and interoperability among major giants will also accelerate with the gradual maturity of experience and technology. this will also force all types of payment entities to provide a good payment experience and deepen user-oriented refined operations.

beijing business daily reporter liu sihong