Alibaba to add WeChat Pay on Taobao and Tmall
Although the timeline for the full rollout is unclear, Alibaba has informed merchants of the plan.
According to a recent statement from the company, Alibaba’s domestic e-commerce platforms, Taobao and Tmall, will soon start accepting payments through Tencent’s WeChat Pay. That marks a significant shift in China’s e-commerce landscape, as WeChat Pay is the main rival to Alipay, the payment service affiliated with Alibaba’s Ant Group.
Historically, Alibaba and Tencent have maintained a ‘walled garden’ approach, where users could only use Alipay on Alibaba platforms and WeChat Pay on Tencent-affiliated sites. However, this separation has been breaking down in recent years. While WeChat users have been able to share links to Alibaba products since 2021, they have not been able to complete transactions using WeChat Pay until now.
Alibaba’s decision to add WeChat Pay as a payment option comes as the company aims to stabilise its domestic e-commerce market share. While revenue from its domestic e-commerce segment dropped by 1% last quarter, the company reported an increase in the number of purchasers and the frequency of their purchases, leading to double-digit order growth. The exact timeline for the full rollout of WeChat Pay on Taobao and Tmall has yet to be disclosed.
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