To say that a lot of people are shopping online these days is an understatement. It’s become so pervasive almost everyone, especially the younger generation, has done online shopping at one point or another. And, online shopping goes hand in hand with online payment services.
In China, Alipay is probably the undisputed king in the world of online payment services. For the uninitiated, it is an online payment platform that was launched in 2004 by founder Jack Ma’s Alibaba Group. According to analyst reports, more than 300 million people in China uses Alipay. Internationally, over 300 worldwide merchants use Alipay to sell directly to consumers to China. Alibaba’s wildly popular online shopping site Taobao.com uses Alipay as a payment system.
Alipay also has a mobile app and can be used as a mobile wallet. Recently, Alipay held a worldwide campaign called “Double 12” (双十二) on 12 December 2015 to reward their users. For instance in Singapore, Alipay users could get as much as 50 per cent discount at participating merchants just by using Alipay. Alipay also held a roadshow outside ION Orchard, giving out free ice cream sandwiches and balloons on that day.
Right now, Alipay is only available for those with bank accounts in China. We are crossing our fingers that Alipay will soon be available to the rest of us.
10 Comments
wow i wish alipay was here in Singapore!
Faster make it available to Singapore bank accounts leh… :3
sounds great! can we have this here in SG?
this is really cool. paypal has a new competitor
If alipay don’t come to me in Singapore, I’ll go to alipay in China! How do I sign up bank account in China?
But wait, what is the point if they are not here yet…
Erm is it something like Paypal?
I didn’t know Alipay can be used in Singapore.
never heard of alipay…..
I thought Alipay is finally here…. guess we still have to wait
Any idea when Alipay will be in Singapore?