UnionPay’s UnionPay UnionPay red envelope event shows that for this year-end event, the UnionPay APP has prepared four New Year red envelopes: red envelopes for opening the door, red envelopes for daily sign-in, red envelopes for inviting relatives and friends, and red envelopes for initiating transfers. The maximum you can get is 2018 yuan.
Previously, Alipay and WeChat rolled up their sleeves and prepared to compete in the red envelope war during the Spring Festival. Now that UnionPay, which has a background in the national team, has joined, many people have more expectations.
UnionPay is a unified brand created by UnionPay specifically for the mobile Internet. China UnionPay is a Chinese bank card association approved by the People's Bank of China.
In fact, UnionPay has entered the field of mobile payment for a long time. As a "national team" player, China UnionPay launched a mobile payment solution based on financial IC card chips as early as 2006. However, telecom operators and the financial industry each proposed a set of NFC standards, and the two sides were at loggerheads. It was not until 2012 that the standard for the financial industry system was established as a national standard. Since then, China UnionPay has gradually become the main promoter of NFC.
All good things come hard. In 2017, UnionPay and Commercial Bank officially launched UnionPay QR code payment, and jointly released a unified App "Cloud Quick Pass" together with all parties in the industry. According to the latest data released by UnionPay, UnionPay mobile QuickPass transactions have been increasing month-on-month throughout 2017. With the launch of the Cloud QuickPass APP, the number of UnionPay QR code transactions in December 2017 was 6. A significant increase of more than 4 times per month.
The report card is indeed eye-catching. UnionPay transaction data shows that the amount of UnionPay network transfer transactions in 2017 was 93.9 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 28.8%.
Industry insiders said that such rapid development seems to also announce that the situation of mutual restraint between Alipay and WeChat in mobile payment is about to be broken, and mobile payment will present a three-legged situation in the future.
Full of imaginative potential
To be fair, in the field of mobile payment in recent years, Alipay and WeChat have gained rapid momentum, and both parties have spared no effort to staking their claim. But a general rule in the Internet industry is that barbaric growth is only suitable for the initial stage, and a company’s position in the industry will change if you don’t pay attention.
Obviously, with the development of UnionPay in mobile payment, the previous brutal expansion model of mobile payment will no longer apply. Even UnionPay’s continuous efforts are an important force in changing the current mobile payment pattern. .
Of course, these three provide similar mobile payment services, but there are still significant differences between them. This difference can basically be reflected in the characteristics of their respective products.
The iconic service of WeChat Pay is "Red Envelope", which allows users to send red envelopes to friends in social WeChat groups. It is a product of the WeChat social communication mobile application. Users who have registered bank account information can enjoy life services such as paying bills and paying to stores by continuing to use their mobile phones.
In contrast, Alipay grew out of an expansion of services designed to facilitate payments on the online shopping site Alibaba. Alipay has become more than just an escrow payment service, allowing consumers to pay sellers after confirming that they have received goods or services. Likewise, Alipay is expanding its services to other transactions beyond Alibaba’s website, including offline payments such as utility bills.
As China’s officially recognized credit card and debit card network company, UnionPay launched the QR code payment standard in May 2017. Currently, Alipay and WeChat Pay dominate this field, but the entry of UnionPay is bound to bring about the entire QR code payment situation. With UnionPay’s own technological breakthroughs and regulatory cooperation, in the field of QR code payment, UnionPay’s advantages will gradually become more prominent. This potential should provide a significant boost to UnionPay's valuation going forward.
The huge advantage of a national team background
As third-party payments, WeChat and Alipay are bound to have limitations in terms of the use and supervision of bank cards.
As a non-bank financial services provider, Alipay has avoided regulatory restrictions for a long time and has been able to extend its services abroad. However, at the end of 2016, Alipay was required to close all overseas financial accounts, which had a considerable impact on its Southeast Asian business.
The most common use of WeChat overseas is its social attributes. In terms of mobile payment, WeChat Pay has established external partners to jointly develop overseas markets. In South Africa, WeChat Pay has launched an international payment solution, and users can now use WeChat Wallet to send and receive money, as well as withdraw cash from ATMs. However, the number of countries it cooperates with is far less than that of UnionPay's partners.
As of June 2017, UnionPay’s network covers urban and rural areas in China, and has extended to 160 overseas countries and regions in Asia, Europe, America, Oceania, Africa, etc.
Compared with the other two, UnionPay’s huge number of users also establishes its status as the “biggest brother” in the future. Data shows that so far, more than 5.4 billion UnionPay cards have been issued in China, and the number of UnionPay card transactions in 2016 alone exceeded 38 billion.
UnionPay’s focus is also more focused on cardholders traveling abroad. In 2015, the United States attracted more than 2.5 million Chinese tourists, who spent more than $40 billion locally. By developing partnerships in the United States, UnionPay has been able to successfully penetrate the U.S. market and thereby increase its overseas market share.
UnionPay has stated that the UnionPay card acceptance network in the United States is improving. Currently, almost all ATMs in the United States can withdraw cash with UnionPay cards, and more than 80 merchants can pay with UnionPay credit cards. In well-known shopping malls and outlet business districts in New York, Hawaii, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Orlando and Chicago, UnionPay card acceptance coverage generally exceeds 90%.
UnionPay’s International Layout
UnionPay began to take steps toward internationalization in 2004. At the end of 2012, the long-awaited UnionPay International Co., Ltd. (UnionPay International) officially opened in Shanghai. As a subsidiary of China UnionPay, it will be responsible for specializing in China UnionPay's international business.
From the current perspective, no product can compare with UnionPay’s international layout. UnionPay has now basically achieved global coverage.
Data shows that UnionPay’s overseas card acceptance network covers more than 160 countries and regions. Hong Kong, Macao, Mongolia, Cuba, and the United Arab Emirates have basically achieved full acceptance. 80 merchants in Northeast Asia can accept UnionPay cards, and the acceptance coverage of merchants in Southeast Asia exceeds 70. More than 80 merchants in the United States can use UnionPay credit cards for purchases, and half of the merchants in Europe can accept bank cards. It supports UnionPay card consumption, and 90% of ATMs and 75 merchants in Australia can also use UnionPay cards.
Other data shows that currently more than 10 million overseas online merchants accept UnionPay cards, and it has gradually formed advantages in fields such as education payment and airline reservations. More than 2,000 overseas schools support UnionPay cards for online tuition payment, and the official websites of nearly 40 international airlines support UnionPay cards for online ticket purchase.
The relevant person in charge of UnionPay International said that a series of innovative products such as UnionPay online payment, UnionPay mobile QuickPass, UnionPay QR code, UnionPay wallet products, etc. are ushering in richer cross-border application scenarios.
This is indeed the case. Since the beginning of 2018, UnionPay International and Huawei have signed a cooperation agreement. The two parties have reached a cooperation to jointly promote the globalization of Huawei Pay and accelerate its overseas implementation. This is also regarded by the outside world as an important step in UnionPay's international layout.
Standard Bank of South Africa and UnionPay International reached a cooperation agreement in Johannesburg, South Africa. The latter will use the resources of Standard Bank to deeply promote UnionPay card payment services in the African market. Standard Bank has thus become the first bank in South Africa to issue UnionPay cards. Card-qualified financial institution.
Judging from UnionPay’s actions, UnionPay’s strategic advantage is its huge outbound Chinese card account, coupled with its natural “national team” advantage, and UnionPay’s layout in mobile payment, who will ignore it in the future? UnionPay, whoever has to bear the consequences