On April 14th, Tim (front left) led his friend Jeffery (front second left) to buy vegetables in a farmer’s market in Hangzhou, and used his mobile phone to complete the payment. Tim from Sydney, Australia, became attached to a girl from Hangzhou and became a "foreign son-in-law" in China. He has lived in Hangzhou for six years. Xinhua News Agency reporter Huang Zongzhi photo
Recently, two men robbed three convenience stores in Hangzhou, only grabbing 1,800 yuan in cash. This rather dramatic news has been screened in the circle of friends, which is a microcosm of the popularity of mobile payment. From restaurants to convenience stores, from taxis to pancake stalls, people are increasingly accustomed to using mobile phones as wallets.
According to data from third parties, the total transaction volume of third-party payment in China in 2016 was 57.9 trillion yuan, an increase rate of 85.6% compared with 2015. Among them, the scale of mobile payment transactions is 38.6 trillion yuan, about 50 times that of the United States. With the full-speed sprint of mobile payment, China has stepped on the threshold of "cashless society".
With UNEP and Ant Financial as directors, a cashless alliance with members including ofo, Carrefour and even braised chicken rice was established recently. Jing Xiandong, CEO of Ant Financial Services, said that in the future, Ant Financial Services will invest no less than 3 billion yuan each year to give priority to supporting cashless alliance businesses, hoping to promote China into a cashless society in five years.
Does "no cash" just mean convenience? How far are we from the cashless society?
Mobile payment is booming.
Recently, Bank of Communications officially launched a mobile phone credit card known as "black technology". As a virtual credit card, it can realize the function of a credit card without the physical action of swiping the card. In addition to Bank of Communications, Bank of China, China Merchants Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, CITIC, Guangfa and other banks have also issued virtual credit cards. The positive layout of the bank reflects its enthusiasm for mobile payment.
The "red envelope war" between WeChat and Alipay has brought many people into contact with mobile payment for the first time, but the rapid development of mobile payment in China is not only due to red envelopes. Meng Tian, deputy director of technology and finance Institute of Shanghai University, summed up the reasons for the boom of mobile payment with "the right time, the right place and the right people".
The so-called "time of day" is a global trend towards "no cash". The Korean government plans to make coins disappear from circulation channels in 2020. Denmark also allowed retailers to refuse cash payment last year and only accept mobile and bank cards.
The so-called "human harmony" refers to the rapid popularization of mobile Internet and smart phones as infrastructure in China. As of December 2016, the number of netizens in China reached 731 million, with a total of 42.99 million new netizens in the whole year, including 695 million mobile netizens, an increase of 5.5 million compared with the end of 2015. As of June 2014, mobile phones surpassed computers to become the largest Internet terminal. The huge number of mobile phone users not only means the ability, but also means that mobile payment has a huge market space.
In addition, what is more important is "geographical location". Meng Tian said: "Non-bank payment institutions ‘ The catfish effect ’ China has an active market entity in the cashless payment field, which greatly accelerates the speed of related technology change and cashless payment. At present, the People’s Bank of China has issued 267 payment licenses. Since 2010, the transaction scale of the third-party payment market in China has maintained an average annual growth rate of more than 50%, which has rapidly expanded. Through seven years of development, China has become a global leader in the field of mobile payment. "
Quickly create inclusive demand
Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport recently announced that it will build the world’s first "cashless airport". From passengers leaving home to arriving at the hatch, including booking tickets, travel transportation, check-in, smart parking, airport bus, shopping and catering, cash is no longer needed.
Like many businesses covered by Xiaoshan Airport, the most fundamental advantage of "no cash" lies in convenience. Jing Xiandong said: "Mobile payment can improve the collection efficiency of offline merchants by about 60%." Yu Ying, chief marketing officer of Carrefour in China, said that the average time for a skilled Carrefour cashier to collect money for each order is 1 minute, and it only takes 15 seconds to 20 seconds to use mobile payment. "After Carrefour accessed Alipay for 4 months, the passenger flow to the store increased by 18%."
For small and micro businesses, crossing credit card payment and going directly to mobile payment will bring down costs and risks. Huang Kean, deputy general manager of Yang Mingyu’s braised chicken rice, told reporters that in more than 6,000 stores of braised chicken rice nationwide, more and more customers like to pay by mobile phone, and some stores even cancel cashiers, so they don’t have to worry about collecting fake money. "I hope that the proportion of mobile payment will reach half in one year."
Mobile payment also means that it can bring new service methods to service providers. Xiaoshan Airport said that in the future airport smart parking project, passengers will not need to stop when entering the airport, and will automatically lift the pole after recognizing the license plate. When the vehicle leaves the airport, it will be directly bound to the mobile phone for payment, and the phenomenon of vehicle queuing will no longer exist.
However, although "cashless" has many advantages, it still faces the problem of user education. Song Ke, deputy director of the International Monetary Research Institute of the School of Finance and Economics of Renmin University of China, said that farmers, the elderly, children and other people with low income, low knowledge level and low acceptance of information technology exist in large numbers, so that they can avoid being squeezed out by new payment technologies and share the convenience brought by efficient financial technologies.
Yuan Leiming, vice president of Ant Financial Services, said, "The annual investment of 3 billion yuan by Ant Financial Services for the cashless alliance is exactly like this ‘ Learning cost ’ On the one hand, we will continue to launch bonus and rights day activities, and continue to educate users through targeted red envelopes and marketing of joint businesses; On the other hand, it is used to reduce merchant fees and does not charge transaction fees and withdrawal fees. "
"Tomorrow" of Accuracy and Credit
In addition to convenience, the massive data accumulated by "no cash" is also a fortune. "Carrefour used to give paper coupons to consumers after the purchase was completed. Whoever came here was these, but many coupons were thrown into the garbage bin before going out. The popularity of mobile payment allows us to portrait users. You know what you need before you come, and you can just send you an electronic coupon, which is what you really want. " In Yu Ying’s view, including the use of electronic membership cards in offline scenes and the strengthening of big data service capabilities, is the real future of "no cash".
For users, "no cash" also means the accumulation of personal credit data. Zhang Siding, co-founder of bike-sharing ofo, said that users with a sesame credit score of 650 or above can use the yellow car without paying the deposit. "From another point of view, cashless can better promote the accumulation of credit data in the whole society and finally realize a credit society."
The accumulation of data can even help offline merchants to obtain credit services based on supply chain finance like e-commerce sellers. Jing Xiandong said: "We hope that in the next few years, with the data precipitated by mobile payment, we can provide better financial and credit support to small and micro businesses." Meng Tian also said: "The biggest significance of no cash is the effective accumulation of data. The accumulation of big data in different scenarios, if combined with artificial intelligence to carry out related analysis and operation, can bring unpredictable great value. This accumulation also provides conditions for opening up the data sources of the whole society. The high cost of credit information is the crux of the problem of financing difficulties and expensive financing for small and medium-sized enterprises in China. The cashless society may bring a new dawn. "