“What is Alipay?” isn’t the question anymore.

Part of the World of Payments™ Series

Earlier in this series, we went through the basics of China’s most popular payment method. The piece went from the most general (What is Alipay?) to the most granular (How do Alipay fees work?). And we made a case that not accepting Alipay would put you at risk of pushing eager customers towards a competitor that did accept Alipay.  

This past week, the market validated our case.

Alipay usage saw a massive surge over Golden Week.

During the holiday’s first four days, overseas Alipay transactions surged 60% year over year. Part of that has to do with Beijing’s recent stimulus measures, and part of it is due to fast adoption of Alipay around the world.

How much of that 60% increase could have been heading into your business bank account if you had been accepting Alipay? More importantly, how much of it went to your competitor and what will they be doing with that extra money?

These are questions you don’t want to be asking either. And so, instead of “What is Alipay?” your next query should be, “How can I get set up to accept Alipay?”

If you want to know, keep reading.

What is Alipay? The world’s best use of QR codes.

Alipay works on a system of QR codes for every product or service you sell. A prospect scans those QR codes with their phones to get the price and pay. It works the other way too: you can scan a prospect’s QR code to accept money from them.

So, to set yourself up for Alipay, you need a system for creating and reading QR codes that can process Alipay payments.

OTT Pay can provide the POP hardware, the eCommerce software and Alipay capability as part of the World of Payments™.

As part of your OTT Pay setup, you’ll assign an account where the revenue from your Alipay transactions will land, most likely but not necessarily your business bank account.

Once you’re set up, you can begin generating QR codes for your products and services using the Merchant Toolkit provided by OTT Pay. These QR codes can live online and in-person, with no complicated tech required. You could even print it out and stick it on the wall.

What is Alipay’s fee structure?

Alipay’s fee structure is fantastic for buyers and sellers, making it a very attractive option on both sides of the equation. Consumers essentially pay no fees, and transaction fees are typically far less than credit card fees.

4 trends that will drive Alipay adoption in North American

As you think about where to make capital investments into your business this year, consider these stats:

• 92% of Chinese nationals with digital payment capabilities use Alipay. If you serve Chinese customers, accepting Alipay will most likely make it easier for them to shop with you.
  
  
• 50% of customers consider ease of checkout when deciding where to shop. If your customers are from China, offering Alipay will make it easier.
  
  
• QR code payments are expected to surpass US$33B by 2030. More people are used to using QR codes and will be looking for payment methods that make use of them.
  
  
• By 2027, more than half of all transactions will originate from a digital wallet. Merchants will want a range of options to serve every kind of digital wallet, and Alipay is one of the more ubiquitous digital wallet apps.

Accepting a World of Payments™ includes Alipay.

OTT Pay offers the whole enchilada… or just part of the enchilada if you’d prefer to combine different courses from multiple suppliers. We’re happy either way. Our World of Payments platform is versatile – not only are our merchants able to accept traditional cards like Interac, Master-card, Visa, and American Express, but they’re also able to accept popular international e-Wallets like Alipay, WeChat Pay and UnionPay. Our Smart POS Terminal is able to accept a variety of QR-code based payments and our World of Payments software is able to seamlessly integrate into your existing payment infrastructure. Embrace diversity and let your customers choose however they want to pay.