left corner left corner
    China Daily Website

    Tencent moves money online through WeChat

    Updated: 2013-08-07 07:16
    By Meng Jing ( China Daily)

    The battle between China's Internet titans intensified as Tencent Holdings Ltd started allowing its WeChat users to make online payments on Monday, a move that taps into the lucrative e-commerce market, which is dominated by its archrival Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

    The WeChat platform, a mobile social networking application developed by Tencent, China's largest Internet company by market capitalization, released its version 5.0 on Monday, in the product's biggest update since it was launched in January 2011.

    "Through WeChat, any person or any business can get all kinds of valuable services in a much more convenient way," said Zhang Xiaolong, senior vice-president of Tencent, in an official company statement.

    The new features of WeChat 5.0 include social games, scanner tools and - most importantly - payment integration, which is seen by many insiders as "the most aggressive function" of all.

    The WeChat payment function can integrate bank accounts (credit or debit card) with a customer's WeChat account, which allows WeChat's more than 300 million users to make purchases on several e-commerce platforms.

    With the help of scanner tools, goods can be scanned using a product's barcode, allowing the user to jump directly onto the e-commerce website selling the product and order it immediately.

    Lu Zhenwang, an independent Internet expert and the chief executive officer of the Shanghai-based Wanqing Consultancy, said the latest version of WeChat has the potential to be a game-changer in China's mobile Internet world.

    "Tencent, Alibaba and Baidu Inc, the top three Internet giants in China, each has a unique advantage in online business. Their territories are well-established and it is difficult to break into their counterparts' territory.

    "But there is no dominant player in the online-to-offline business sector in China at the moment. WeChat's payment function is not based on the personal computer but on the mobile phone, which can largely combine online and offline business," said Lu.

    Lu added that the payment function has great potential to become Tencent's new source of growth and a strong challenge to Alibaba, which accounts for more than 50 percent of China's e-commerce market.

    McKinsey & Co estimates China's e-commerce market will triple to $395 billion from 2011 to 2015. Alibaba, the dominant player in this field, is heading toward what may be the biggest initial share offering since Facebook Inc.

    Tencent's move is seen as the latest counter-offensive against Alibaba, which said last Wednesday that it will block online sellers' access to WeChat, citing security reasons.

    Shoppers have instead been offered the option to log on to Alibaba's Taobao marketplace using their accounts on Sina Weibo, the Chinese Twitter-like micro-blogging platform, starting on the same day that Tencent released its WeChat 5.0.

    The move is seen as an attempt to help advertise the products of some online vendors on Sina Weibo and try to redirect potential shoppers from Sina Weibo to Taobao.

    In April, Alibaba acquired an 18 percent stake in Sina Weibo for $586 million, further illustrating the collaboration between the two companies.

    However, Alibaba's move will merely steer some shoppers from Sina Weibo to Taobao, and it is not a breakthrough similar to what Tencent did with its WeChat 5.0, said Lu Jingyu, an analyst on the mobile Internet with iResearch Consulting Group.

    "Our research found that two Tencent apps, WeChat and QQ, have taken up about one-sixth of the total time people spend on the mobile Internet. That's far beyond what other Internet companies can reach," Lu said.

     
    8.03K
     
    www无码乱伦| 无码毛片视频一区二区本码 | 久久水蜜桃亚洲av无码精品麻豆| 日本中文字幕一区二区有码在线| 在线欧美天码中文字幕| 亚洲无码视频在线| 久久久久久亚洲精品无码 | 色综合AV综合无码综合网站| 99久久无色码中文字幕| 亚洲AV中文无码乱人伦在线视色| 无码人妻精品一区二区在线视频| 午夜无码中文字幕在线播放| 亚洲国产精品无码中文字| 午夜无码国产理论在线| 亚洲AV无码国产丝袜在线观看| 特级做A爰片毛片免费看无码| 中文字幕亚洲精品无码| a级毛片无码兔费真人久久| 亚洲AV无码久久精品狠狠爱浪潮| 免费A级毛片无码无遮挡内射| 最近免费中文字幕mv在线电影| 中文字幕无码久久人妻| 亚洲AV无码一区二区三区国产| 国产成人AV片无码免费| 狠狠躁天天躁无码中文字幕图| 最新国产AV无码专区亚洲| 影音先锋中文无码一区| 无码人妻精品中文字幕免费东京热 | 中文在线√天堂| 人妻丝袜中文无码av影音先锋专区 | 中文无码喷潮在线播放| 日本久久久久久中文字幕| 中文字幕无码日韩专区免费| 乱人伦中文视频在线| 在线观看免费无码视频| 中文字幕亚洲情99在线| 亚洲日韩VA无码中文字幕| 亚洲中文字幕AV在天堂| 人妻无码中文久久久久专区| 欧美日韩中文在线| 最近更新免费中文字幕大全|