The interconnection between the two ecosystems of Alibaba and Tencent has seen new moves.

Recently, it was reported that Taobao started to use WeChat Pay for internal testing, but this function is currently only for some users and only supports some products.

The first financial reporter did not find any related functions on Taobao's order payment page.

　　In the eyes of industry insiders, this test of water is the further advancement of connectivity between the two sides.

Wang Pengbo, a senior analyst in the financial industry of Broadcom Consulting, told reporters that this move is an important progress in the interconnection and interoperability of the payment field. For merchants and users on Taobao, there is an additional payment option, which is important for reducing the operating costs of merchants and improving User experience benefits.

However, it should also be noted that interconnection is not only the interconnection between the two giants, but the starting point should be conducive to the development of the overall industry.

Taobao tests the waters of WeChat payment

From the perspective of payment methods, according to the screenshots disclosed on the Internet, this time Taobao tested WeChat payment, mainly on the Taobao order page, adding two options: "WeChat scan code payment" and "Go to WeChat to find a friend to help me pay"; in contrast , in the order interface for users who have not participated in the internal test, there are only options such as "Alipay Payment", "Huabei Installment", "Find a Friend to Help Pay" and "Change".

　　Specifically, different from the traditional way of accessing or jumping, according to reports, "WeChat scan code payment" is on the order submission interface. Users need to make WeChat payment through the QR code given by Taobao, and users must save a screenshot first. WeChat payment code, and then open WeChat to scan and complete the payment; in addition, "WeChat find a friend to help me pay", it is to send the payment link to WeChat friends to pay.

　　"This is actually equivalent to asking a stranger to pay on behalf of him, that is, Taobao generates a WeChat payment code, and the user scans the code with WeChat Pay to pay for it; or, Taobao helps him find someone to place the order on his behalf, and then find an acquaintance on WeChat to pay" one person Industry insiders told reporters.

　　It is reported that the function of using WeChat payment on Taobao is only open to some users, and only supports some products.

As of press time, the reporter opened Taobao's order payment page, and has not found the entrance of WeChat scan code payment; but in the method of "find a friend to pay for help", the reporter noticed that you can copy the payment link and send it to WeChat, QQ friends, the other party can directly open the link in WeChat to pay.

　　"This is an important progress in the interconnection and interoperability of the payment field." Wang Pengbo told reporters, "Tencent's products can enter Ali's ecosystem, and WeChat Pay has also expanded to e-commerce scenarios that were never imagined before." In addition, for Taobao merchants and users, there is also an additional payment option, which is beneficial to reducing the operating costs of merchants and improving user experience, and also sets a good example for further interconnection of the industry.

　　It is reported that before Taobao tried WeChat payment, Taocaicai, a subsidiary of Ali Group, has added a payment function of finding friends to pay by WeChat, which further enriches Taocaicai's payment channels and gives users more choices.

It can be seen that in the context of interconnection, Alibaba and Tencent are conducting many explorations and attempts.

　　In August 2021, foreign media reported that Tencent and Ali are formulating an interoperability plan. Tencent will allow Ali-related e-commerce information to be shared on WeChat, and Ali will introduce Tencent’s WeChat payment to Taobao and Tmall; then in September 2021, Ali Its Ele.me, Youku, Damai, Kaola Haigou, Shuqi and other apps have all been connected to WeChat Pay; at the same time, Taote, Xianyu, Hema and other apps have also applied for WeChat Pay and are waiting for WeChat to review .

The reporter tried to order food with Ele.me and found that the "WeChat Payment" option had appeared on the payment interface.

Connectivity continues to advance

　　Interconnection can be said to be a major trend in the payment field in recent years.

The central bank issued the "Fintech Development Plan (2019-2021)" in 2019, proposing to promote barcode payment interconnection, and to study and formulate barcode payment interconnection technical standards to break through barcode payment service barriers and realize barcode identification of different apps and merchants Mutual recognition and scanning.

　　There has been an opinion that in recent years, with the rapid development of the mobile payment industry, barcode payment, with its low cost and high convenience, has greatly broadened the acceptance range of merchants and improved the consumer experience of the public. An important payment method for payment scenarios.

However, some market participants have established barriers to competition through self-contained barcode standards. On the user side, the mobile app and merchant barcodes are usually unable to recognize and scan each other. The urgency of unifying domestic barcode payment standards has gradually emerged.

　　The consensus in the industry is that for the numerous QR code payments on the market, interconnection will provide great convenience for merchants and users in payment and settlement, help merchants reduce the cost of various payment channels, and reduce resource waste to a certain extent. social transaction costs.

　　In this context, the interconnection and interoperability in the payment field are frequent, especially the "breaking wall" between several giants has attracted market attention.

In August last year, after connecting to the mobile phone Taobao App for settlement, UnionPay and WeChat Pay were linked together. Users could make payments by scanning the WeChat personal collection code through the “Scan” function of the UnionPay app. A major progress in the interconnection of barcode payment.

　　In fact, in November last year, the Taobao link can be opened directly in WeChat without copying the "Tao password", which is also regarded as an important step in the ecological interconnection between the two parties.

　　Wang Pengbo believes that there is not much technical difficulty in the interconnection between Alibaba and Tencent. The main difficulty may lie in the distribution of income in different scenarios, and how the two major groups gradually further integrate the business ecology built by themselves with interconnection.

In his view, the payment platform can take advantage of the opportunity of channel interconnection, integrate more external resources, scenarios and service providers, create a more decentralized open platform, and provide corresponding products, services and traffic support for merchants in need , to help the digital upgrade process of merchants. At present, Ant and Ali have gone a little further in terms of technical support and SaaS services.