Alipay Announces Three-Year Plan to Support the Digital Transformation of 40 Million Service Providers in China
Summary
“The service sector in China is still in the nascent stages of digital transformation, and that means it has huge untapped potential,” said Ant Financial Chief Executive Officer Simon Hu. Beijing-based grocery startup Meicai, which connects farmers with consumers and restaurants, also launched a mini program to make its delivery services available to Alipay users amid the Covid-19 outbreak. Despite their importance to the economy, Chinese service providers still rely heavily on traditional brick-and-mortar business models, and have yet to fully embrace digital technology to boost efficiency and improve the customer experience. In addition, service providers can leverage Alipay mini programs, which can run on all major platforms within the Alibaba ecosystem such as Tmall and AutoNavi, to reach a much broader user base. Users can hail a taxi, book a hotel, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, make appointments with doctors, or purchase wealth management products directly from within the app.