With the widespread use of WeChat and Alipay, mobile payment can be said to have largely occupied people's daily lives. The development process of WeChat and Alipay can almost encompass the whole picture of the development of mobile payment.
Alipay started with Taobao and gained a large number of user groups through online shopping, and WeChat also quickly seized the market of offline payment after launching red envelopes. Almost everyone is inseparable from mobile payment, and the wide range of its user base is obvious to all, from children who use electronic watches to complete payments, to middle-aged and elderly people who can use smart phones, they have become accustomed to shopping without cash. It's almost impossible to get people back to the era of cash. However, seeing that WeChat and Alipay occupy almost all the domestic mobile payment markets, a policy introduced by the state at this time makes them a little embarrassed.
Make adjustments
In October 2021, the central bank's notice attracted the attention of everyone, pointing out that personal collection codes can no longer be used for business activities and must be upgraded to merchant collection codes.
I have to say that this makes the small merchants and hawkers hurt their brains, they usually operate less profits, if the cost is calculated according to the merchant collection code, they need to pay 6 times more than the original personal collection code. In this way, the cost is greatly increased, at this time, for merchants, perhaps encouraging customers to use cash to relieve their urgent needs, but according to the development of mobile payment today, it is difficult to return to the cash era.
Coincidentally, this also upset the two major companies of WeChat and Alipay, WeChat and Alipay, which are afraid of causing a large number of users to lose, which will cause them heavy losses. Then, in the face of controversy, the regulations have also been adjusted accordingly. The central bank decided to no longer mandate vendors to upgrade their personal collection codes to merchant collection codes. As soon as this move came out, the merchants were also relieved, and they no longer had to pay extremely high costs, which was very beneficial to them. Alipay and WeChat also don't have to worry about a large number of users losing.
Is withdrawal free?
However, perhaps it is worried that one day, the use of personal payment codes by vendors will really be banned, resulting in a decline in the market share of the software Mainz, whether it is WeChat or Alipay, it has made a certain concession.
Alipay has introduced a policy of free withdrawal, that is, no matter how much money the user withdraws, Alipay does not charge a withdrawal fee. WeChat also made corresponding adjustments, they proposed that users can get a certain amount of gold coins on the basis of using "WeChat Pay", which can be used to redeem the withdrawal quota. So why does WeChat do this? Mainly due to the higher user penetration rate of WeChat than Alipay.
After all, WeChat Pay relies on the Platform of WeChat, which is now the premier online communication tool in China, and its user volume is extremely large. Moreover, many of the small merchants and hawkers are middle-aged and elderly, they will use WeChat to chat with their families, for them, it is more convenient to choose WeChat pay, and Alipay also needs to be downloaded and installed, bound to bank cards, this series of operations will make them feel some redundancy.
In any case, it is a good thing to reduce the cost of withdrawal, the operating costs of traders have been reduced, and the withdrawal fee has made many merchants laugh and blossom. In addition, it can be seen that WeChat and Alipay, as the two giants of mobile payment, have similar functions, and there must be corresponding market competition between them, in order to occupy more shares in the market, they have launched corresponding means to attract more users to pour into the platform and use the platform more.
However, it has to be said that this adjustment is undoubtedly a good thing for the majority of user friends. Indeed, healthy market competition promotes the development of enterprises and also brings convenience to users. Similarly, I sincerely hope that in the future, Alipay and WeChat withdrawals will be free, bringing more convenience to each of our lives.