Expanding Digital Payment

Two of China’s biggest digital payment services have partnered with the U.s.based online payment startup Stripe Inc. to increase online shopping options for Chinese customers. Businesses that use Stripe can now accept Alipay and Wechat as payment methods on their websites, according to a statement from Stripe released on July 10. Alipay, part of Ant Financial, an Alibaba Group Holding Inc. affiliate, and Wechat Pay, the payment service of Tencent Holdings Ltd., dominate the mobile-payments market in China with a combined 90 percent share. They are estimated to have processed close to $3 trillion cumulatively in 2016, according to a report by the United Nations, which put Alipay slightly ahead of $1.7 trillion compared to $1.2 trillion for Wechat Pay. Alipay is used by about half a billion Chinese shoppers. Its mobile wallet is already accepted by more than 100,000 retailers in 70 international markets.