China Herald: Apple: a ripple in China's fintech markets

Matthew Brennan

Online payments have gained market share in China very fast, but that market is dominated by domestic players like Tencent and Alibaba, while foreign ones like Apple are less than a ripple, says fintech expert Matthew Brennan at Pymnts.

Pymnts:

Ant Financial and Tencent could both potentially surpass credit card companies like Visa and Mastercard in total global transactions per day in the coming year, as they offer merchants a cheaper and more accessible QR-based option that is more desirable than a more costly upgrade to payments terminals for cards.

That nearly ubiquitous presence among merchants online and off in China’s major retail sector has lead to an incredibly mobile-dominated marketplace full of some very loyal customers.

At present, according to analyst Matthew Brennan, Alipay and WeChat Pay collectively control some 67 percent of the Chinese payments market in major cities — compared to Union Pay’s 22 percent and cash’s 11 percent.

Apple Pay, which launched in China over a year ago? Less than 1 percent. And not for lack of trying or interest. Apple went into the market with an alliance with Union Pay — the nation’s only state-backed issuer of six billion cards that are accepted at major retail stores all over China. They also enlisted participation from 19 Chinese banks, including its four largest. They even managed to get three million customers to link their cards to an Apple Pay account within the first two days the service was available.

Full speed ahead? Not so much — it didn’t even make so much as a ripple in the marketplace. According to Brennan’s data, 67 percent of store clerks have no idea how the service even works — and built in, smartphone-based payments tools are an order of magnitude less popular among Chinese consumers than app-based systems that use the more understandable and accessible QR codes.

More at Pymnts.

Matthew Brennan is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Are you looking for more fintech experts at the China Speakers Bureau? Do check out this list.