We have recently seen the emergence of many fintech solutions, which were initially said to outperform and replace traditional banks. Contrary to public expectations, as a response, banks became more technologically advanced and agile.
Given that the world is rapidly changing, both banks and fintech companies now have to deal with a competitive market shaped by tech companies such as WeChat and Alipay. WeChat is more than a social network, it`s a mobile ecosystem with a heavy focus on ecommerce. Alipay has become more of its own Internet finance ecosystem with a full range of services, available online.
Social is the new black
According to recent stats by Mediascope, an average customer uses approximately 5 or 6 mobile applications a day. In Russia, most popular apps are messengers and social networks: WhatsApp, Viber, Vkontakte, Instagram, Facebook (data by App Annie, 2016).
Social platforms have become leaders in the digital media industry, evolving rapidly as digital communication networks and becoming full-fledged media distribution channels and entertainment centers.
The new generation has a different perception of information – they click on videos, post stickers and emoji, everything is being put in a visually rich context. People no longer need to decide what apps to download, they get ranking and advice made by algorithms. More than that, users no longer choose what posts to see, Facebook and Instagram make this decision for them via algorithms, creating specific feeds.
WeChat and Alipay
China’s smartphone owners are way ahead when it comes to paying for things with their phones, if we talk at a global scale. Sending money through the apps has become a part of the lifestyle in the East. Almost everyone in major Chinese cities is using a smartphone to pay for just about everything via WeChat or Alipay. In practical terms, this means Tencent and Alibaba’s financial affiliate, Ant Financial, can make money off the transactions, charge other companies to use their payment platforms and also collect the payments data to be used in everything, from new credit systems to advertising. No doubt, Tencent and Alibaba are pushing to expand beyond China to ensure this innovation is everywhere. Nevertheless, competition is looming.
Payments via messenger
Whereas instant messenger payment model is in high demand in Asia, it is still brand new for Russia. Telegram, which has some 100 million users and has evolved from a simple communication platform into an entire ecosystem and seems to be following the footsteps of WeChat.
Yandex.Checkout was the first in Russia to enable online stores to accept payments via Telegram Bots, allowing their customers to pay for goods and services directly through messenger: movie tickets, mobile communication, flower delivery and so on.
Telegram is not the only experience for payments in messengers. For example, Yandex.Checkout provides built-in chat payments for online stores with JivoSite. More than that, Yandex.Checkout has recently enabled online stores to send invoices to their customers via Viber messenger, with more than 800 million people on the platform in 193 countries.
Since nowadays the social world dominates the users attention, the future of payments integrated in social networks and messengers looks quite promising.
About Anna Kuzmina:Anna, Deputy Chief Commercial Officer, is in charge of Yandex.Money’s international business development. Having worked for companies such as Mail.ru Group and Xsolla, she has expertise in online payments for digital goods, retail, and gaming. She contributes to Russian and foreign e-commerce research, being particularly knowledgeable about the Russian-Chinese cross-border market. She has been building bridges between the two e-commerce markets for over a decade.
About Yandex.Money:
Russia-based Yandex.Money is a joint venture of the search engine Yandex and Sberbank. The company offers consumers reliable methods of paying online. The service hosts about 34 million user accounts with about 15,000 new accounts opened daily.
Their service Yandex.Checkout, allows merchants to accept all the online payment methods most popular among Russians: credit cards, e-wallets, mobile billing through the Russian providers, and cash via 250,000 acceptance points all over the country and CIS. Currently, more than 76,000 online stores across the globe use Yandex.Checkout.
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