Compared to previous years, the Double 11 promotion in 2024 not only started earlier and lasted longer, but also has a significant feature - the integration of Taobao and WeChat Pay. Wu Jia, Vice President of Alibaba Group and President of Taotian User Platform Business Unit, stated that this is the first step in the cooperation between Taobao and WeChat, and the two sides will deepen other cooperation, including traffic, in the future.
How is the progress of this integration? The reporter found through actual testing and interviews that consumers and businesses currently have different perceptions due to different developments. For example, some consumers cannot find WeChat Pay service on the latest version of Taobao, and some merchants have inconvenience due to being forced to open WeChat Pay.
Besides Taobao and WeChat, other giants are also facing the challenge of breaking down barriers and opening up connections. Wang Pengbo, Chief Analyst of the Financial Industry at Broadcom Consulting, believes that a balance should be found while respecting the spontaneity of the market, and the key depends on the platform's own development needs and willingness.
The platform is connected, but the service path is still not very clear
The reporter found through experience and interviews that currently Taobao adopts a mandatory and non cancellable method for merchants' WeChat payment function. After the platform prompts that the WeChat Pay contract has been successfully signed, the WeChat Pay orders generated by the merchant's store will be automatically settled to the aggregated settlement account, which is located in Qianniu Finance Fund Management Fund Account.
It's great to be able to collect money, but some merchants have revealed to reporters that there are certain inconveniences in withdrawing funds through WeChat Pay. This is because the merchant's bank account name and bank card type must match the subject information registered on the Taobao and Tmall platforms. Enterprise stores are limited to bank cards linked to company accounts, and the bank card name must be exactly the same as the enterprise name registered on Taobao and Tmall platforms (no changes allowed); Personal stores can only bind personal bank cards, and the bank card account name must be exactly the same as the personal name registered on Taobao and Tmall platforms (cannot be changed); Individual industrial and commercial households can choose to bind the corporate bank card of the enterprise or the personal bank card of the legal person, but regardless of the choice, the bank card account name must be consistent with the enterprise name or legal person name registered on the Taobao Tmall platform (cannot be changed).
If the merchant meets the above regulations at the beginning of opening the store, they can withdraw directly. However, some businesses have reported to reporters that when they first opened their stores, they used someone else's ID card or the nature of the store was that of an individual business, so they have not yet opened a corporate account. A merchant revealed that under the guidance of a Taobao assistant, they completed the transfer operation to meet the withdrawal conditions, but found that the fund limit on the aggregated account page had disappeared. In response to this, the second party stated that the aggregation settlement account entrance is still under development and improvement after the transfer.
In addition, Taobao merchant Zhang Shuai stated that the funds in the Tmall aggregation settlement account cannot be used to recharge Alibaba Mama related marketing services, nor can they be used for daily store operations. They can only be withdrawn.
The screenshot of the backend page provided by the merchant to the reporter shows that in order to improve the consumer payment experience, payment tools are the basic capabilities of the platform. Currently, Taobao platform does not support exiting WeChat Pay, and the aggregated settlement account only has a withdrawal function and cannot transfer internal business of Alibaba.
According to the official statement, "If you quit WeChat Pay because you don't want to bind your card or withdraw money, you can also use the balance of your aggregated settlement account for consumption, such as promoting Alimama. This feature will be launched later, so please be patient
From the perspective of consumer experience, interconnectivity also requires time.
A store that has also signed up for WeChat Pay, with the same Apple phone users, one can find the WeChat Pay feature in the payment options, but the other cannot find it. The official customer service of Taobao responded by saying, "Some merchants and products have special characteristics (including pre paid deposits and final payments for Double 11) that do not currently support WeChat Pay. Consumers can try updating the Taobao app to the latest version or clicking on more payment methods on the payment page. If it still cannot be used, it is because the ability is still gradually being opened. Please be patient
Don't let the achievements go to waste
Zhang Shuai raised a question: Has opening WeChat Pay become more convenient or more complicated?
It will be really convenient for buyers who only have WeChat payment but no Alipay. But for the merchant end, the WeChat Pay port that cannot charge advertising fees and can only withdraw is not enough. If according to the official statement, it would be much more convenient to directly purchase Alibaba based streaming services using an aggregated settlement account. Zhang Shuai hopes that Taobao can activate a feature for aggregating accounts, and the function of recharging Alibaba marketing services with funds received through WeChat Pay can be activated as soon as possible.
The reporter learned from the merchant that in order to meet the financial requirements, the funds collected by either WeChat payment or Alipay need to be withdrawn to the bank card first, then recharged by Alipay, and purchased Alibaba Mom traffic services.
This is also why Wu Jia stated that after "interconnectivity", Taobao will further improve its corresponding user operations. Taobao has seen a rapid increase in usage frequency and user base among young users and those in lower tier markets. Wu Jia expects this to be the most attended Double 11 event in history.
Nowadays, Taobao and WeChat Pay have integrated their functions, and WeChat chat windows can also open Taobao links. Wang Pengbo told reporters that the introduction of WeChat Pay on Taobao is an important milestone event in payment interconnection and can be seen as a model of win-win for all parties. Cross cooperation between different platforms and payment tools is beneficial for improving payment convenience and promoting consumer release, in line with the original intention of regulatory requirements for interconnectivity. Platform cooperation is no longer a zero sum game, but a win-win cooperation. From an industry perspective, it also indicates that the industry has more opportunities to break the original pattern and provide more possibilities for payment technology innovation
In addition to Taobao, the connection between Tiktok and WeChat ecology has also been the focus of the industry for many years. The reporter's experience found that at present, the Tiktok video link can be directly opened in the WeChat system, but the e-commerce commodity chain cannot be opened, so the password needs to be copied to the Tiktok platform to reopen the page.
Wang Pengbo believes that "dismantling walls" requires a process and moderation, finding a balance while respecting the spontaneity of the market, and the key depends on the platform's own development needs and willingness. The original intention of interconnectivity is that companies can avoid external interference from non competitive factors when they truly have demand. If a payment platform already has a large market share and other platforms have many payment options that do not affect users' normal use and technological innovation, then it should not expand and invade other commercial systems under the name of interconnectivity, which will be detrimental to the development of mid to low tier platforms, and the platform's own investment in the payment industry will also decrease, "said Wang Pengbo.
The smooth integration between Taobao ecosystem and WeChat Pay is inseparable from the growth demand of Alibaba's Double 11 this year. When Tiktok E-commerce can be fully opened in the WeChat ecosystem, it may also need an opportunity.