Chinese online gaming and social networking groupTencent has pulled back from a high-stakes battlewith ecommerce company Alibaba for control ofChina’s mobile payments market, after spendingbillions of renminbi on subsidies to attract users.
中國在線遊戲和交際收集團體騰訊(Tencent)在同電子商務公司阿裏巴巴(Alibaba)爭取中國挪動付出市場掌握權的事關龐大的角力中後撤。此前騰訊為吸援用戶已付出巨額補助。
Last month the company began charging users fortransferring funds between WeChat Pay — thepayments service linked to Tencent’s popular instant messaging app — and traditional bankaccounts. Previously, Tencent had subsidised the transfers by absorbing the associated banktransaction fees rather than passing them on to users. A WeChat wallet feature also allowedtransfers between different commercial banks.
不久前，該公司開端針對在微信付出(WeChat Pay，與騰訊人氣極高的即時通信運用聯系關系的付出辦事)與傳統銀行賬戶之間轉移資金向用戶收費。此前騰訊經由過程接收相幹銀行手續費(而不是將其轉嫁給用戶)來補助這種轉賬操縱。微信錢包(WeChat wallet)功效還許可在分歧貿易銀行之間舉行轉賬。
In January alone, Tencent spent Rmb300m ($46m) on bank transaction fees, the companyrevealed in its annual report. For the fourth quarter, “other” revenue expenses rose 153 percent to Rmb1.5bn, an increase it said was “mainly driven” by bank transaction fees accrued byWeChat Pay.
騰訊在其年報中表露，僅在本年1月，該公司就在微信付出生意業務的相幹銀行手續費上付出3億元國民幣(合4600萬美元)。對付客歲第四時度，“其他”營業的收入本錢同比增加153%，至15億元國民幣，該公司稱，這一增長主如果由微信付出產生的銀行手續費驅動的。
Pony Ma, Tencent’s chairman, said that as of March, when the company began imposing userfees, operating losses from WeChat Pay were “brought under control”.
騰訊董事長馬化騰(Pony Ma)表現，3月份該公司開端向用戶收費後，微信付出的運營吃虧獲得掌握。
The shift marks a partial de-escalation of its market-share battle with Alipay, the paymentservice run by Alibaba’s financial affiliate Ant Financial.
這類改變標記著其與付出寶(Alipay，由阿裏巴巴旗下的金融公司螞蟻金服(Ant Financial)運營的付出辦事)之間的市場份額爭取戰湧現部門降級。
Competition between the companies intensified at the start of the lunar new year 2015, whenboth spent billions on “red envelope” cash giveaways to lure new users. An earlier duelbetween the internet heavyweights over car-hailing apps began with a war of subsidies forriders and drivers but ended with a merger of Tencent-backed Didi and Alibaba’s Kuaidi.
兩家公司之間的競爭在2015年陰歷新年加重，其時兩邊都砸下巨款發送“紅包”以吸引新用戶。更早的時刻，這兩家互聯網巨頭在打車運用上睜開一場爭取搭客和司機的補助戰，但終極以騰訊支撐的滴滴(Didi)與阿裏巴巴支撐的快的(Kuaidi)歸並了結。
The introduction of user fees is not purely a cost-saving measure. Analysts say that imposingfees on withdrawals will make cash stored in the WeChat wallet “stickier”.
實施用戶用度並非純真的節儉本錢之舉。剖析師們表現，對提現收費將使存在微信錢包的現金更具“粘性”。
“The fees create a barrier to funds leaving, so it incentivises users to keep their money insidethe WeChat ecosystem,” says Li Zhefeng, analyst at iResearch in Beijing.
“這些用度給提現制作了停滯，由此鼓勵用戶把本身的錢留在微信的生態體系內，”北京艾瑞咨詢(iResearch)剖析師李哲峰表現。
Tencent’s subsidies helped WeChat attract millions of users and boosted transaction volume ina year that witnessed the explosion of online-to-offline mobile payments to merchants such assupermarkets and restaurants.
騰訊的補助贊助微信吸引了數以百萬計的用戶，並在一年裏提振了生意業務量，在此時代付出給商家(如超市和餐廳)的線上至線下(O2O)挪動支支付現爆炸式增加。
But in terms of market share, Tencent has little to show for the money it spent. Its paymentaffiliate, Caifutong, processed 20 per cent of Chinese third-party online payments last year,compared with Alipay’s 48 per cent, according to iResearch. That’s up only half a percentagepoint from a year earlier.
然則，就市場份額而言，騰訊的巨額付出看不到甚麽顯著結果。艾瑞咨詢的數據表現，其付出從屬公司“財付通”客歲處置了中國20%的第三方在線付出，同比僅上升半個百分點，遠低於“付出寶”的48%。
市場價：HK$ 110
