Horizontal expansion vs Intensive cultivation

Good times for third party payments

Wen/Jiang Yin

With the issuance of third party payment licences, the era of banks as the only formal payment channel is gone. Third party payment enterprises after the brutal growth, although the world is more vast, but the trend of competition has become more intense.

If the 2011 industry event is to be selected, the licensing of third party payment enterprises will undoubtedly be honored.

In 2011, China's third party internet payment market reached a total of 2.161 trillion yuan a year, a 99% increase from 2010, according to a recent report by the Analysys think-tank on China's quarterly monitoring of third party payments in 2011. The rapid growth in third-party payment markets was mainly due to the central bank's three-batch payment of third party licences last year, the Analysys think-tank said.

As of December 31, 2011, the central bank announced the third batch of 61 companies to obtain payment licences. In addition to the previous two separate 27 and 13 licensed enterprises, a total of 101 enterprises entered the third party to pay the ranks of "Regular army".

The licence is of great significance. In this gradually open market, the existing third-party payment companies have experienced the founding of the past, the payment of licences is in fact a formal recognition of the arduous process. Acceptance of policy norms and regulatory constraints, the third party to pay the pace of progress can be more emboldened.

With the issuance of licences, banks ' good times as traditionally the only formal payment channels will be gone. Third party payment brands, after saying goodbye to savage growth, are eagerly looking forward to expanding their sphere of influence with their licences. As a paying company head said, after the licence "gate", the competition trend is more intense.

The logic behind it is not complicated. In the age of no entry threshold, some third-party payments have been deeply infiltrated into the online shopping, online games, aviation tourism, the three traditional plates, while others in the public service payment, telecommunications fees, education fees, logistics, funds, insurance, credit card repayment and other areas of the fine excavation-can be said, They have long known the workings of their markets, but lack the command to sprint.

Price is still the killer of these enterprises, especially with the establishment of some payment companies ' brand and scale effect, the price advantage of traditional payment channels, such as banks, will be further highlighted.

At the same time, some large companies have become increasingly impulsive about the proliferation of diverse sectors, which will inevitably kill each other in a single market. The choice of weapons and strategies to go to the forefront of the participants is a hurdle.

Horizontal expansion vs Intensive cultivation

The Spring Festival of 2012 just passed, Mu Haijie found the work of hand more and more. Mu is the vice president of the world. After the New Year's Day, the Third-party payment company added a receipt, finance and other two business units-plus the original air travel, financial and distribution departments in the central bank issued by the "Internet payments, mobile payments, POS receipts," The full business license, remit the world to their own layout planning appears gradually clear up.

"For remittance, we will expand in all areas." Mu Haijie said that, whether online or offline, remit the world's main task is to rapidly expand the market.

Last September, remitted the world for Sina le Habitat to provide full payment services and solutions; Two months later, the world announced its mobile payment strategy, planned in 2012 to invest 100 million yuan in the distribution of mobile payment areas. "This March, every day, the users can be in the mobile phone to carry out funds trading." "Mu Haijie revealed.

After the issuance of licences, horizontal and strong intervention in the new field is almost the common policy of well-known payment brands. For example, Lakara, after obtaining policy permission, plans to enter the lucrative receipts business market, Tencent's Tenpay in the net purchase payment, game recharge, also began to cut into the fund payment, insurance sales and other business, and with the South Fund, Peng China Fund, Guotai Securities, Companies such as CIC have signed a cooperation agreement (though theoretically, Tenpay currently does not have a fund to pay the licence, but it does not seem to affect its enthusiasm for the business), while Alipay through the release of mobile phone bar code to pay the product into the offline payment market, and through the acquisition of Bianca pay the invasion of the airline industry payment areas.

By contrast, small and medium-sized third-party payment companies appear to be "single-minded": they have no intention to change their focus on market segmentation strategies and continue to race in a single business area.

Main bank card receipts business Shanghai Hua Potential information technology company CEO Liangjian said that 2012 China will be the courier industry 2/3 of the cod (door-to-door) market.

While the main public utilities payment services, although the payment license for the whole business, but not intended to extend to other business sectors, paid general manager Chishaobin said, "We do not get a license to change the original business plan." We still continue to be bigger and stronger in the Public service billing field. ”

It is understood that public utilities each pay only about 3 of the processing rate, in the industry is less profitable business. Chishaobin that the way to improve profitability is to try to develop the national market. After 30% of the market in Shanghai, at the end of 2011, pay-pass in 7 cities opened a payment platform, opened the prologue to seize the market.

In view of the special payment business of public utilities, the way of payment is different in every city. "In Qingdao, we cooperate with the local third party payment company, in Beijing, we use the Bank channel, take the way of batch write-off." "A pay-pass employee said.

Similarly, most third-party payment companies have high hopes for mobile payments, regardless of size. "I will always keep an eye on the mobile payment market. "Liangjian said. With the popularity of smartphones, China Mobile internet users in 2011, the scale of more than 400 million, the market reached 86.22 billion yuan, the industry predicted the mobile payment based on the smartphone will usher in a "golden decade": In the business pattern has become a preliminary situation, mobile payment will be the next performance growth theme.

Need to innovate but not be replicated

In the competitive situation, business innovation is the most effective way to attract users. Payment companies are also aware of this and are constantly introducing new products. Some of these products are designed to increase the speed of payment, such as Alipay launched the "Fast Payment", and some stressed the security of payment, such as money bag net "money bag Treasure", while others are more convenient to use, such as remit the world's "fund fast line."

"Fund fast line to the fund trading step from the original seven or eight steps to reduce the current two or three steps, so that users on our platform to accelerate the jump to the fund company's website time, greatly saving time costs." Another innovative product cash treasure, the default user in the daily profit account funds can make Money fund investment, easy to let idle funds to obtain more than the bank demand higher income. "Mu Haijie introduced.

The EBPP electronic bill is also an innovative product that improves the user experience. In view of the various problems of paying for the public utilities under the line, the pay-pass design functions such as inquiry payment, joint bill and so on, which greatly improve the efficiency of the user and system settle.

Unlike the companies mentioned above, the innovative thinking of Huaneng is mainly based on the business model. Liangjian that the receipt business competition is fierce, in essence, competitive quality merchants. Need to think about, after years of development, hotels, restaurants, entertainment and other quality shops have been left, the other people's way out?

"In fact, we feel that while bank card payments are becoming more common, it's not easy to swipe, especially in two or three-line cities and rural areas." In the case of a few high quality businesses, companies that can innovate in tools and models have potential for the future. "he said.

According to the latest report of Analysys, the entry and operation threshold of electronic payment based on gateway payment is not particularly high, and the homogeneity of products is serious. Therefore, each kind of receipts business gradually appears "the channel" the characteristic, namely each kind of receipts the business only serves as the capital circulation channel, the enterprise's profit point from the receipt business to the higher level value-added service development.

China is interested in starting from the payment, to create a business-to-business platform, around the business to provide value-added services.

In sales, China is interested in relying on its own technical platform for merchants to provide discounts, group buying and other marketing information published services. In view of the management of the merchant, it provides the data analysis of each transaction through the information of POS terminals, and helps the merchant to develop the inventory management plan. Even when a merchant finances a bank, it can provide a guarantee for the merchant. Liangjian said that by interfering with the business management, marketing and capital links, China Power Map helps them to achieve benign operation. And these services will naturally make good profits for the company.

Mu Haijie vice president of the World

Their own troubles

Although all kinds of innovations are easily replicated by rivals, the first-hand advantage of the Third-party payment market still plays a part. Domestic online payment faucet Alipay customers have been close to 400 million, the daily turnover of more than 3 billion yuan. Lakara's exclusive offline sales outlets are the threshold for other third-party payment companies to enter. As the first fund to pay the company, remit pay the world's direct payment platform is now covering more than 95% of the bank card and 46 fund companies more than 700 of the hot fund products, its Aviation brigade in the field of more than 50% of the market share is difficult to be shaken.

Into the "post-licensing era", Third-party payment companies are undoubtedly facing a huge growth in business space. 2011, the entire fund sales volume of about 1.8 trillion. Only billions of of transactions are traded through the world platform, "there is still a lot of room for improvement." "Mu Haijie said.

Similarly, the domestic POS machine credit card consumption total from 2005 's 900 billion growth to 2010 of 10 trillion, so rapid growth for the main POS billing company, is also full of imagination space.

But trouble persists. Chishaobin that pay-pass is subject to its own financial system, unable to carry out large marketing, thereby reducing the company's ability to obtain more users. "We can not be like other enterprises in the market to invest a lot of money, so that we communicate with the user lag, the new product has not done large-scale, it may be imitated by others." ”

Liangjian's concern is more about how to quickly establish a talent team that can expand the national market. The founder of the bank and UnionPay background believes that the people engaged in POS billing business needs to have a deep understanding of the bank card industry and payment technology, which is certainly not a problem that can be solved overnight, "the need for long-term precipitation in the industry."

For the world, the Fund investment environment is to expand the user process is the most difficult to solve the problem. "2011 Market environment is very depressed, many people are talking about ' base ' color change." For users, the lack of confidence in the stock market funds is a great hindrance, resulting in some of our development restrictions. ”

However, Mu Haijie also said that the future day surplus platform will provide more value-added services to attract fund users. For now, the world's goal in the fund's business is to align with their airline business-raising the proportion of electronic payments from 5% to 30%.