The battle comes after UnionPay and Apple both rolled out similar programs in June and July to cultivate customer loyalty. Tencent’s WeChat Pay (Wallet), which comes in as a close second in China’s red-hot mobile payment arena, also unveiled a raft of promotions during the same period. Apart from a similar cash rebate scheme, WeChat users can accumulate savings and spend them on Aug 8. Consumers also gain additional cash rewards by sharing promotions with their WeChat contacts. Alipay and WeChat Pay controlled more than 92 per cent of China’s 18.8 trillion yuan mobile payment market in the first quarter of 2017, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys.

Source: The Nation Bangkok August 03, 2017 03:33 UTC