Paying attention to the performance of the giants to go out to sea, but beware of the "fire" in the backyard

Mobile payment "war" has been burned overseas. Among them, South Korea has become an important position, including the domestic "payment legion" including UnionPay, Alipay, Lakara, WeChat payment. And how to provide innovative and differentiated services will become a magic weapon.

In the past Golden Week, the number of Chinese outbound tourists reached a new high. According to the report of China Tourism Research Institute and Ctrip.com, the number of outbound tourists in the National Day holiday is close to 6 million, an increase of 11.9%.

Along with the outflow of outbound travel, the overseas consumption of Chinese tourists reached 1.2 trillion yuan in 2015. Faced with this huge cake, Alipay and WeChat paid for the two mobile payment giants also accelerated the layout.

However, the two major payment giants not only face the resistance of the original competitors in the process of “going out to sea”, but also need to actively “consolidate” the status of the domestic market in the rear.

Cross-border payment performance is eye-catching

According to the data of Alipay's cross-border payment, during the Golden Week this year, the number of Chinese tourists using Alipay overseas increased nearly four times compared with the same period of last year, and the per capita consumption exceeded 1,000 yuan. Among them, after 85 became the absolute main force of overseas travel consumption, the consumption amount accounted for nearly 70%. The top five countries and regions of Alipay users are South Korea, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan, and Germany.

According to WeChat payment, from October 1 to 7, 2016, the number of Chinese users' WeChat payment abroad exceeded 750% year-on-year; South Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan became the three most popular destinations for cashless outbound travel.

Both the data disclosed in Alipay and WeChat payment show that South Korea is an important position for Chinese mobile payment companies to “go to the sea”.

According to the Yonhap News Agency, during the "11" period (October 1 to 7), about 250,000 Chinese tourists visited South Korea. Compared with the same period in 2010, the number of visitors to Korea has increased by nearly 400%. The sales of Korean department stores and duty-free shops to Chinese customers increased by 20% to 40% year-on-year. It is easy to buy in Korean supermarkets. From October 1st to 6th, the number of UnionPay card transactions increased by 31% year-on-year, and the transaction amount increased by 7%.

“It is very convenient to use Alipay to shop in Korea. Almost every store in Myeong-dong in Seoul will have Alipay’s payment identifier. When I pay, I only need to scan the QR code and input the amount of Korean won, which will be directly converted into RMB. It is very intuitive. I think Shopping in the main business districts of South Korea does not require a wallet, as long as a mobile phone is enough.” Tourist Xia Ling (pseudonym) traveled to South Korea during the National Day this year, and she described her feelings when shopping in Korea.

It is understood that the current "payment army" has entered the Korean market, including UnionPay, Alipay, Lakara, WeChat payment. Taking Alipay as an example, it has covered more than 30,000 major merchants in the Korean market.

Differentiated service is a magic weapon

With the massive invasion of Alipay and WeChat payment, competition in the field of cross-border payments has become more intense.

In the face of competition, how should the old card organizations including UnionPay, Visa and MasterCard fight back?

When talking about the competition with mobile payment companies, Evergreen, the president of MasterCard China, appeared to be "calm." He told reporters that the cake for cross-border payment is not a fixed-size cake, but is constantly expanding, which is related to changes in consumer habits of domestic consumers.

"I don't think there is a problem of who grabbed the cake, because when the cake is growing, everyone enjoys this growth bonus." Chang Qing said that the key is how to use some innovative and differentiated services for China. Tourists' overseas travel provides practical help.

According to Chang Qing, Chinese tourists are now overseas, and mobile phone traffic is a basic demand. Before that, we cooperated with banks to launch MasterCard, which can enjoy free WiFi service outside the country.

On the other hand, offering more offers is another magic weapon for Chinese tourists. Xia Ling told reporters that although Alipay payment is very good, but it will still "shop around three" when the checkout, if UnionPay launched a card discount offer, it will be the preferred to pay UnionPay card checkout.

The backyard "fire" was counterattacked

While Alipay and WeChat pay to expand into overseas markets, competitors are also watching the huge domestic business market.

On the eve of the National Day, Jingdong Financial's “White Strip” and the bank's joint electronic account “White Strip Flash Payment” was officially launched, and it entered the field of “offline payment + consumer finance”.

The industry believes that Jingdong, which has no chance in the competition of third-party payment portals, has adopted a curve-accepting method to seize the offline payment market by using POS equipment laid under the UnionPay line. According to statistics, at present, about 96 million units of UnionPay pos machines have been completed, and 90% have completed the transformation of support for flash payment technology; there are more than 8 million merchants in the UnionPay network.

In this process, both the late Jingdong, the bank, and the UnionPay and mobile phone manufacturers that promote NFC payment technology are all beneficiaries.

In fact, since Apple Pay entered China, consumers have been accustomed to paying for the two-dimensional payment of Alipay and WeChat payment after experiencing the excitement period. Apple's payment service business has not been as smooth as expected.

Zeng Gang, director of the Banking Research Office of the Institute of Finance of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that after the introduction of the central bank's bank account classification management system, the industry is observing how much the category II and III accounts relying on Internet technology are developing. In fact, the development of Class II accounts needs to combine scenario capabilities, but the ability of banks to attract customer traffic through Internet channels is relatively weak. By opening up online and offline channels, both banks and Internet financial platforms have realized the sharing of customer traffic.