FinTech Revolution: Exploring Mobile Payment Services Like Alipay, Apple Pay & WeChat Pay - Essay Sample

Introduction

The proliferation of mobile payment services is an excellent example of the FinTech revolution. The payment facilities include; Alipay, Apple Pay, and WeChat Pay. The facilities allow consumers to pay for goods and services online or store using their smartphones. The mobile payment services make payment safer and faster compared to traditional payment methods like bank cards and cash. The FinTech sector was dominated by the United Kingdom and the United States and U.K. firms; however, companies from China are now rising to be top digital innovators (Angus, 2016). The government of China has been developing financial reforms since the late 1970s. Today, China has beaten The United States in the internationalization of digital innovation by introducing its Fintech Companies even on US home soil. Recently, Australia has witnessed similar trends with Alipay growing influence among FinTech Companies. Alipay, a giant Chinese mobile payment company, is partnering with native Australian payment providers such as Quaest Payment Systems instating its technology in multiple stores (Azfar, 2019).

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Research Questions

• The objectives of this proposal can be summarized by the following research objectives.
• Why are some Chinese Fintech firms trying to expand internationally?
• What are the factors that contribute to the acceptance of Alipay?
• How has the acceptance of Alipay by customers been improved in Australia?

Research Objectives

The research objective of this proposal is determining the performance of Chinese FinTech companies in Australia, particularly Alipay.

Problem Statement

The enactment of a third party payment system has boosted Australian e-business monetary transactions (Nie, 2007). The system promotes online shopping, besides working well in campus business and South Pacific Islands (Zhu, 2008). According to Guoling and Shanshan (2009), although third-party online payment improves convenience in service, it is accompanied with economic, social and political risks which need to be prevented and improve over security and trust of the payment system. Therefore, the outcome of this research proposal is to determine how Chinese FinTech companies such as Alipay have managed to handle this challenges and increase their acceptance not only to their citizens living abroad but also the native Australians.

Literature Review

The People's Republic of China is one of the most advanced markets in terms of implementation, development, and success of the FinTech which has penetrated to the global market in United States, Europe, Asia, Australia among others. Digital leadership and innovations are the key reason behind the recent history of success from Chinese companies (Goue, 2016). Much of their success has been attributed to structural weaknesses in the traditional system of finance, high levels of digital connectivity in the society, high e-commerce significance and conducive governmental environment for innovation in China's banking system and limited development of local capital markets which have hampered the access of some groups to sources of funds (Arnold et al., 2017).

In China, economic growth has been shaped by state-owned enterprises. The enterprises can access credit from Chinese banks since they have state backing. As a result, SMEs and individuals depend on the informal banking sector and other networks for a loan. The demand for financial services by SMEs and individuals have been on the rise since 2007 (Janos, 2016).

According to McKinsey (2016) conditions that support the development of FinTech in China and its penetration in other countries include large population distributions around the world, a regulatory environment that is supportive, developed e-commerce business, financial inclusion and adapting tradition of China. These factors have made it easy for Chinese FinTech to penetrate foreign markets like Australia.

Internationalization of AlipayFor customers shopping abroad, that is tourism and online purchases. The problem of international settlement in terms of payment is critical. Considering the preferences of the consumers for digital payments in an era of smartphones, providers of third-party payment like Alipay has the upper hand. Besides, the growing demand for luxury goods offered abroad or in online stores has made it almost impossible to avoid international payments in markets like Australia.

In general, Alipay covers a market totaling to 200 countries, and these outlets serve approximately 45 million Chinese customers (Azfar, 2019). Also, Alipay has dominated national market coverage. Alipay, as many global partners, includes merchants for physical and in-app payments and international payment companies. In Australia, partners with native Australian payment providers such as Quaest Payment Systems instating its technology in multiple stores. Also, Alipay+ is a strategy in which Alipay shows its interest in shopping markets, airports, and food service as it aims not to serve Chinese abroad but also native Australians (Arner et al., 2015).

Significance of the Study

This research investigates the adoption of Alipay, a third-party online payment service by the users, and how such companies have a growing influence not only in China but also the rest of the world.

Research Methodology

The purpose of this proposal research is to provide more information on the international market environment concerning digital innovation. To understand the consumer's reception of Alipay from various participants, an analysis will be applied for a demographic group. The research method will be a mixed approach, combining both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The objective is to analyze the available data provided by FinTech Australia yearly report on performance. Also, primary data will be obtained by conducting interviews using face-to-face interactions with FinTech users. Furthermore, questionnaires will be issued to gather user feedback.

Although interviews need time to cover a large population, they are advantageous since they are useful as they give first-hand information. The interview will include Chinese companies in Australia as well as users of the technology, whether foreign or native citizens.

The questionnaire will be used to get users' experience with Alipay in the Australian market. For Chinese respondents who prefer their mother tongue, the questionnaire will be translated into the Chinese language. There are two types of questionnaires, that is, self-administered questionnaires and those administered by the interviewer. Respondents have to complete self-administered questionnaires. This research proposal will use Internet-mediated questionnaire. The method will involve an invitation of respondents to answer a question concerning Alipay through a web link; the respondents have a provision for filling the questionnaire online. Sojump, a Chinese online tool, will be used to deliver the questions and collect responses from individuals.

The first part of the questionnaire will collect background information about the respondents, and the information will include; age, gender, occupation, income level of education level. The second section will receive information on Alipay use in Australia. Also, methods of payment used on B2C sites will be categorized. Even the section on Perceptions and attitudes about Alipay will be included; the part will be used to gather data on the acceptance of the user. To rate the statements and a series of statements, a Likert-style rating scale with seven points will be used. The respondent will be asked to agree or disagree with the statements.

This research proposal targets customer who shops in China and Australia. China has 300 million customers (B2C customers). The research will draw a sample from a target group to investigate r adoption of Alipay by the users. All sampling techniques will be checked and an appropriate one chosen. Sampling can be categorized into; random and non-random sampling, and mixed sampling. This research proposal use quota sampling technique. From Saunders et al. (2011), this technique of sampling is the most used mainly in opinion polls and market research To implement this design, and the respondents will be subdivided into a specific number of strata. .According to Comrey and Lee (1992), a "sample size of is 100 is poor, 200 is fair, 300 is good, 500 is very good, 1,000 or more is excellent. They urge researchers to obtain samples of 500 or more observations whenever possible." Therefore, 300 will be used as the sample size for this proposal. This sample includes both Alipay and non-Alipay users.

References

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Angus, M., (2016). China Dominates List of World's Top 10 Fintech Companies in 2016. China Daily, Europe. Retrieved from: http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2016-10/24/content_27159456.htm

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Azfar, R., (2019). Alipay expands to Australia, gunning for Apple Pay and Android Pay. Industry Dive. Retrieved from: https://www.retaildive.com/ex/mobilecommercedaily/alipay-expands-to-australia-is-it-gunning-for-apple-pay-and-android-pay

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Saunders, M. N., Saunders, M., Lewis, P., &a...