Walmart, the US retailer, has ditched Alipay in favour of Tencent’s mobile payments app in western China, dealing a fresh blow to Alibaba in the battle between the country’s biggest tech groups to dominate the $15.5tn payments market.
Payments have become a key battleground for the Chinese groups — both of which rank in the world’s 10 most valuable companies — as they compete in markets spanning retail, entertainment and logistics.
Walmart, which along with Carrefour is among the biggest foreign retailers in China, has been accepting Alipay in its 400-plus stores in the country. However, this month it said it had entered into partnership with WeChat Pay in the western region.