No cash needed even at the greengrocer

Imagine you spot your favorite fruit at the greengrocer's. You might succumb to temptation and want to buy it. But what if, when you go to pay, you realize, "Oh no, I don't have cash!"? In the past, you'd have to avoid the shopkeeper's gaze and sneak away. But today in China, even neighborhood greengrocers accept mobile payments.

This is a highly convenient service provided by Alibaba Group's "Alipay." Like other countries, China's payment methods have evolved over considerable time—from barter, to currency transactions, to cash cards. Yet even today, when everyone has credit cards, paying at small shops or street stalls is usually impossible. Over the past year in China, a service widely used for online shopping has permeated even the smallest local stores.

But it's entirely different from the short-range wireless technologies like mobile wallets used in Japan and other countries. What's new is the involvement of a third-party platform in the payment process. Alipay temporarily holds the customer's payment. Only after confirming the customer is satisfied with the received goods does Alipay release the payment to the merchant.

Over 80% of internet users in China access the web via smartphones or mobile phones. The proliferation and advancement of mobile devices, QR codes, and wireless networks have made third-party mediated payments easy anywhere. Alipay now has nearly 500,000 business partners, including small retailers. A key advantage is that stores don't need to install dedicated payment terminals.

Transactions take just tens of seconds. Mobile payments via Alipay have become commonplace for everything from utility bills (water, electricity, phone), lottery tickets, groceries, restaurant meals, lodging, and taxi fares. It seems we may soon no longer need cash in our pockets.

Partnering financial institutions now exceed 200, with 300 million users in China utilizing this service. New features continue to emerge, such as split payments, donations, and Yu'ebao, which allows investments starting from just 1 yuan.

In the near future, we might be handling all our daily purchases with just one mobile device...

(Supervised by: Dentsu Inc. Aegis Network Business Bureau)