2016年CRI Mobile payment apps take measures to compete for market shares and revenues in China

 

One of the most popular apps in China for mobile payments has been WeChat's "Wallet" program.

Users simply transfer money from their bank accounts into the app, which can now be used at most retail¹ outlets² in the major cities in China.

However, Liu Peng, head of WeChat's mobile payment section, says they hope to expand their services beyond just retail.

"We are mulling over ideas to get into different sectors⁴, including agriculture and maybe even the industrial sector³. We're looking at different ideas about creating different applications."

At the same time, WeChat also launched its "No Cash Life" promotion⁵ earlier this month.

It's teamed up with around 700-thousand virtual and brick-and-mortar shops, as well as 40 financial institutions in China, to woo customers with bigger discounts.

"I bought a cup of milk tea via Alipay and got a 0.2 yuan discount on it."

Alipay's Ant Financial has also announced an investment of some 150 million U.S. dollars to help small and medium-sized businesses get involved in mobile payments over the next 3 years.

Song Jie with Ant Financial says they would like to see everyone get involved in mobile payments.

"Our company will open up all our capabilities⁶ to the public on our platforms, including finance, security, risk control and data processing divisions."

And it’s not just the private sector leading the charge in mobile payments.

State-run banking⁷ giant ICBC has also released a new mobile payment service as well.

Wang Dufu with ICBC's Bankcard Service Center says they hope their new QR code payment service can help establish direct links with more small businesses.

"We want to get to know their business operations and capital flow habits through our data processing. It should help us offer more credit support for these kinds of small businesses in the future."

Official estimates put China's mobile payment market at over 1.8 trillion U.S. dollars by the end of this year.

That's expected to increase to 2.7-trillion US dollars by 2018.

For CRI, I'm Xie Cheng.

1 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

2 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

3 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

4 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

6 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

7 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。