Tag: china mobile commerce

Alibaba and Intime partner on mobile commerce

| November 21, 2013

Companies agree to tackle mobile commerce

Alibaba, one of China’s largest retail organizations, has entered into a new agreement with Intime Department Store. Intime currently operates 37 retail stores in China and had been looking to establish a stronger presence in the mobile sector. This interest aligns with Alibaba’s own plans and the two companies have agreed to work together to make mobile payments more accessible to consumers. This will be accomplished by Intime incorporating support for the Alipay Wallet application into its stores.

Alipay Wallet to be supported by Intime stores

Alipay was launched in January of this year and represents Alibaba’s approach to mobile commerce. The application is meant to store the financial information of users and make use of this information to facilitate purchases directly from a mobile device. The application currently boasts of more than 100 million users throughout China, making it the country’s premier mobile commerce platform. One of the attractive aspects of the application is the fact that it does not rely on NFC technology. The Alipay Wallet is able to facilitate mobile payments through the scanning of QR codes and similar barcodes.

Companies to expand their focus on mobile payments

Mobile Commerce - AlibabaPer the agreement, Intime will begin supporting payments being made by customers using the Alipay Wallet. This may help expose more people to the concept of mobile commerce and give them more flexibility when it comes to shopping at Intime stores. Both Alibaba and Intime have also agreed to expand their efforts in the mobile commerce field beyond the use of the Alipay Wallet. Exactly what that entails is not yet known.

Mobile commerce continues to gain traction in China

Mobile commerce has been gaining popularity with Chinese consumers for some time. More people are gaining access to smartphones and tablets and are beginning to demand more convenient and efficient ways to shop. Mobile commerce has been able to win over many people with its convenient aspects, but efficiency can often be a problem, especially if retailers are not comfortable with using mobile commerce platforms effectively.

Mobile commerce may boom in China with support from Alibaba

| October 16, 2013

Alibaba unveils plans to support retail sector that may have implications for mobile commerce

Alibaba, China’s largest online retailer, has unveiled plans to revolutionize the country’s e-commerce sector. Commerce throughout China has been changing in recent years, driven by the growing number of people that are beginning to rely heavily on their mobile devices. The emergence of mobile commerce has encouraged many companies within China to take the mobile space more seriously, and Alibaba intends to utilize the momentum that mobile commerce has generated to make drastic changes to the e-commerce scene.

Company to invest $16 billion in support for the e-commerce sector

Alibaba intends to invest some $16 billion in logistics and support to the e-commerce field through 2020. The company believes that this investment will help open up China to hundreds of millions of new customers, which could eventually translate into higher revenues for online retailers throughout China. E-commerce is expected to account for a fifth of all retail sales in China within the next 5 years and many of these sales will come from those making purchases from mobile devices.

Mobile Commerce ChinaMobile commerce is growing in China

Mobile commerce has been gaining momentum throughout China, but few retailers have yet to embrace the mobile space. Support from Alibaba may help retailers become more accommodating of mobile consumers, developing websites and other services that are optimized for mobile use. While Alibaba is not solely focused on mobile commerce, the support that it is bringing to the retail industry may help retailers engage mobile consumers more effectively.

Lack of security could slow growth of mobile commerce

There are risks when it comes to the expansion of mobile commerce. Identity theft and other types of fraud are becoming more common within the mobile space with every passing day. Without adequate security measures, the growth of mobile commerce is expected to be sluggish among consumers that are concerned for the safety of their financial information. Security concerns are also prevalent in the e-commerce sector, where consumers are leery of platforms they are not familiar with.