Mobile payments taking off in China

Shopping carnivals initiated by Chinese e-tailers are generating massive sales. China’s famous Cyber Monday (11 November) registered record sales of USD10 billion within 24 hours in 2014. Has China entered the age of digital payments? Spire Research and Consulting shared its insights, published on the US Consumer Electronics Association’s blog.

Chinese e-commerce giants including Alibaba Group and JD.com offer huge discounts during such e-commerce shopping carnivals to propagate digital payment technology, to the massive acclaim of Chinese consumers.

As China’s e-commerce market expands, third-party payment platforms lead the way. This space is dominated by Alipay (Alibaba), UnionPay, 99Bill and Tenpay (Tencent). The potential is evident from Alipay’s hike in transaction value to USD9 billion in 2014 in comparison to USD8 million in 2009.

At the same time, payments are not only limited to the e-commerce realm but include mobile payments as well. These include E-wallet, repayments (credit card and loan), electronic funds transfer, utilities (water, TV, electricity and so forth), insurance, as well as charitable donations, to name a few.

Some innovative approaches to mobile payments are Alipay’s AA payment which allows the splitting of a single bill amount, as going Dutch in China is quite common. It helps a user create an Alipay group and sends notifications to other payers (in group) for the total amount to be collected. Tencent’s Tenpay launched a similar app by adding a mobile wallet feature to its popular WeChat mobile messenger – keeping in view its wide user base of 500 million in mainland China and 100 million overseas users.

On the other hand, mobile payments are being pushed into the brick and mortar channels through shopping carnivals such as the ‘Double 12 (December 12)’ with heavy discounts given to customers for purchases via mobile payments in physical retail outlets.

The good news is that this concept is working wonders – more than 20,000 stores from over 100 retail chains including FamilyMart and MerryMart were part of the ‘Double 12’ in 2014. This carnival became a magnet for thousands of post-60 and post-70 Chinese nationals trying their hand at this technology.

There can be little doubt that mobile payment is taking off in China.

https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/media/mobile-payments-taking-off-in-china/

Comments

Next generation solar and wind power in India

Imagine the Nevada desert with thousands of mirrors arranged in concentric circles facing the sky, all lit up by the sun. The reflected sunshine is concentrated towards the top of a tower in their midst, at a height of 640 feet. Does this seem like a scene from a sci-fi movie? Wrong. This innovative power plant generates electricity and can carry on even when the sun sets. According to research, global energy storage installations are bound to rise from 1,750 megawatts (Mw) in 2016 to nearly 11,000 Mw in 2020. The lucrative business of harnessing sun and wind energy has picked up in Asia. For instance, Hindustan Power Projects Limited (HPPL) has investments worth INR17,000 crore (out of intended INR35,000 crore). It is also set to enter the wind power arena and set up 3 Gw of wind energy by 2020. Can solar and wind energy provide a safer, cleaner and more reliable form of energy for the 21st century? https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/next-generati

Ghana citizenships to boost economy

In November 2019, 126 African-Americans and Afro-Caribbean’s were granted citizenship, in a ceremony that marks 2019 as the Year of Return. 500,000 tourists are expected to visit Ghana during the Year of Return, a considerable increase from the 380,000 that visited in 2018. Visa on arrival for some and waive off of Visa charges have been introduced. The government also plans to invest in educated returnees to help boost the economy through employment. Is investment in human capital the way to boost Ghana’s economy? Read more: https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/spirethoughts/ghana-citizenships-to-boost-economy/

Spire talks about strategic planning lessons from leading organizations in ASEAN

Spire was honored to participate in a seminar organized by Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) on 15th July, in Singapore. Japnit Singh, Deputy CEO of Spire Group, shared his insights on strategic planning lessons from leading organizations in ASEAN. Japnit discussed five steps of strategic planning, strategic priorities and tools used by leading organizations in ASEAN. The strategic planning process can be seen as consisting of five steps, distributed amongst different departments in the organization. These steps are defining the vision, gathering and analyzing data, strategy creation, planning resources & outcomes and finally evaluation and monitoring. An organization should formulate an overall vision for the future, gather and analyze all the available data and also consider all the available critical items of information while monitoring and evaluating key performance indicators (KPI). For Singapore-based firms, ASEAN continues to be the most popular

Taking the Haze out of palm oil

The haze from annual fires in Sumatra, which worsened disastrously in 2013, has focused regional and global attention on making palm oil production sustainable. Industry leaders are facing increasing pressure from governments and consumers to prove that their palm oil sourcing practices are sustainable. Leon Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, shared his views on how the palm oil industry was adapting to these new realities. Large-scale burning in many parts of Sumatra remains an annual affair. The winds of the Southwest Monsoon circulate smoke and unhealthy particulates from the burning vegetation towards Singapore, Malaysia and many parts of Indonesia itself, such as Sumatra and the Riau islands. Aside from the public health problem it creates, the haze has drawn global attention to the environmental disaster of replacing rainforest with palm oil plantations in Sumatra and Kalimantan in an unsustainable way. Palm oil companies are facing increa

Digital banking in Singapore

What will be the impact of digital banks in Singapore? Leon Perera, Chief Executive Officer of Spire Research and Consulting, shared his insights in Business Times – Singapore. More and more countries worldwide are issuing full bank licenses to digital-only banks. The competition from digital banks is being seen as a favorable development for the consumer. Digital banks with fewer physical branches and Automated Teller Machines to maintain could incur lower costs that could be passed onto the consumer. However, Perera highlighted that non-bank players entering the regulated banking space would need to learn a great deal in terms of maintaining cyber- security and managing financial risks. To overcome these challenges, regulators should work closely with licensed digital banks while also helping digital-only banks domiciled in Singapore to grow regionally. Get more information : https://www.spireresearch.com/newsroom/media/digital-banking-in-singapore/

The Knowledge to Decide

Search This Blog