With this year’s GSMA Mobile Asia Expo hosted in Shanghai for the third time in 2014, it is a perfect opportunity to explore what is happening in the country’s digital commerce sector.

The statistics about internet use in China continue to impress — there’s already more people in China online than the population of the United States. There are also more than 500 million mobile internet users in China (GSMA Intelligence) — more than in any other country — and the government is working on its promise to connect at least 1.2 billion people to 3G or 4G mobile internet services by 2020.

Alongside this, China is also experiencing huge growth in digital commerce. Last year China made headlines when on Singles Day (11/11 – a holiday to celebrate being single) more than US$1.2 billion in transactions were made via mobile devices on internet giant Alibaba’s websites alone.

While the e-commerce sector is still significantly larger than mobile commerce, this is set to change. The People’s Bank of China reported mobile transactions in the country have surged 255 per cent to 3.89 million Chinese RMB (US$623 billion) from April 2013 to April 2014. With more consumers gaining access to smart phones and mobile broadband, this surge is expected to continue in the near future.

There are four major players in digital commerce in China, which between them account for more than 85 per cent of online transactions in China:

1. AliPay – This PayPal-style service is owned by one of China’s largest tech players, Alibaba, known for its multiple marketplace and B2B e-commerce offerings. Its strength in online payment services has carried over to its mobile app, which is one of the most popular in China. The AliPay Wallet is a cloud-based app that allows consumers to either link their AliPay account to their local bank account, or they can transfer money into it for a pre-paid account. It lets consumers manage their savings, pay water bills, transfer money to family members, and to split the bill at dinner.
2. TenPay – Run by one of the country’s largest social media and mobile messaging companies, TenCent, TenPay has a similar payment offering to AliPay but with a social element. TenPay is embedded into TenCent’s social platform WeChat. It ties in some interesting social functions into payment, such as sending gifts to friends. TenCent is also investing into the mobile commerce transit market, recently having purchased a stake in popular taxi app Didi Dache. It’s starting to give AliPay a run for its money.
3. 99bill – This is another cloud-payment company and while not as popular as AliPay and TenPay, it provides services to consumers and businesses as well as supports transactions from international credit cards such as Visa, MasterCard and American Express. It announced that it will be launching a new mobile payment product this year.
4. China UnionPay – China’s national credit card and the world’s largest card scheme offers a sophisticated mobile wallet that can be used at its QuickPass contactless payment terminals and for mobile payments. Rather than software-based security, China UnionPay‘s Wallet app uses the smartphone’s SIM card as a secure element, enabling consumers to link their bank accounts for transactions from paying utility bills to collecting coupons and purchasing from NFC vending machines.

If you’re interested in finding out more about digital commerce in China visit Mobile Asia Expo, Shanghai from 11 – 13 June or contact the GSMA’s Digital Commerce programme [email protected].