On October 18th, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily noticed that the topic of choosing WeChat payment after placing an order on Taobao has once again sparked heated discussions. Many users have reported on public social media platforms that when shopping on the Taobao App, the payment page displays the relevant methods of WeChat payment, including "WeChat scanning payment" and "go to WeChat to find a friend to help me pay".
It is worth mentioning that this feature has not been launched recently. As early as March 2022, some users reported that they could use WeChat QR code scanning for payment on Taobao. According to confirmation from a reporter from Beijing Business Daily to Taobao customer service, this feature is still gradually being opened, and only some users can use it, and only certain products can be selected when purchasing.
Only available to some users
According to the introduction, among the two payment methods, "WeChat scanning payment" requires users to save the payment QR code on the order payment page, and then use WeChat "scanning" to identify the QR code for payment; To 'go to WeChat and find a friend to help me pay', the user needs to choose to send the payment link to their WeChat friend for payment. The friend clicks on the link and enters the password to complete the payment.
The Beijing Business Daily reporter used their own account to test and found that the WeChat payment option did not directly appear on the payment pages of multiple different categories of products. However, after clicking on the "Help me pay" function, not only can you quickly select the payment object through your phone number and Taobao friends, but you can also share the link with your WeChat friends. This payment method is consistent with the process of using the "Go to WeChat to find friends to help me pay" function.
For the above situation, a reporter from Beijing Business Daily consulted with customer service on Taobao's official website. Taobao customer service stated that WeChat QR code payment is currently only gradually open to some users and only supports selection when purchasing certain products. Some users are randomly selected. If users already have a WeChat QR code payment portal, they can choose the corresponding payment method on the order submission page for payment.
In fact, "when Taobao shopping can use WeChat payment" has always been a hot topic among consumers. With the promotion of connectivity in the payment field in the past two years, Alipay and WeChat payment have also emerged in the products of Tencent and Ali, the two Internet giants. From the current progress, it can be seen that the interconnection work is still under testing, and even if it is fully opened, it is not possible to make direct payments, so it will not have any impact on the existing payment market share. "Wang Pengbo, Chief Analyst of Botong Consulting, pointed out.
In the view of Su Xiaorui, a senior consultant in the financial industry at Analysys, the support of some Taobao users for WeChat payment is a microcosm of the interconnection process between payment giants and an important manifestation of the continuation of interconnection work. Previously, WeChat and cloud flash payment interoperability, as well as Taobao and cloud flash payment interoperability, have achieved some results. This move can gradually eliminate the high payment barriers in the previous market, slow down the monopoly position of payment giants, improve the efficiency of payment functions, and also facilitate the free choice of financial consumers.
There are still difficulties to be solved in interconnectivity
Based on the current progress of interconnectivity in the payment field, compared to online payments, barcode payments, and other fields, the interconnection work between Tencent and Alibaba's payment sectors is gradually opening up to UnionPay Cloud flash payments. On the Taobao app, some users started using "WeChat QR code scanning payment" and "Go to WeChat and find friends to help me pay" in March 2022.
According to confirmation from a reporter from Beijing Business Daily to Taobao customer service, after a year and a half, the above WeChat payment function for shopping on the Taobao App is currently only available to some users, but it is also gradually being opened.
It is gradually open to some users and only supports selection when purchasing certain products. Some users are randomly selected, which is a routine operation in the payment exchange process. The purpose is to conduct testing on a small scale first, and then steadily expand the scope when it is mature, "Su Xiaorui added.
When it comes to the difficulties of fully opening up payment interconnectivity, Wang Pengbo believes that the market needs to have a correct understanding of the interconnectivity of the payment industry. The addition of UnionPay and NetEase has already achieved interconnectivity within the payment system to a certain extent. All banks can scan WeChat payment and the QR code of Alipay, and the business ecology in Alibaba and Tencent systems no longer excludes each other's payment tools. In terms of the difficulty of comprehensive opening up, it may mainly be that all parties still need to negotiate on the technical level and channel benefits.
Regarding the latest progress and subsequent plans for payment connectivity, Beijing Business Daily reporters conducted interviews with Taobao, Tencent, and other parties, but as of press release, no response has been received.
In addition, for the development of payment interconnection in the next stage, Su Xiaorui predicts that the process of payment interconnection among major giants in the future will accelerate with the refinement and summarization of experience and the gradual maturity of technology. On the one hand, it means that the giant ecosystem is beginning to emerge with external payment methods, which is a sign of progress in breaking payment monopolies and promoting payment market competition, On the other hand, it also means that users within the giant's own ecosystem will have more payment options based on their own preferences, which will force various payment entities to have a good payment experience and deepen the refinement of user operations.
Pan Helin, co-director and researcher of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center at the International Business School of Zhejiang University, reminds that interconnection should be treated equally, that is, not only to achieve the interconnection of top payment institutions, but also to provide channels for tail payment institutions, and to equitably benefit the entire payment industry. The original intention of interconnection is to promote market competition, and the key to promoting market competition is to maintain the fairness of market competition.