ABSTRACT
Payments for online shopping relied on cash-on-delivery. Sellers were concerned that they wouldn’t receive payment after delivering the goods, whereas buyers were not sure if they would receive the merchandise after paying for it. The advantages of Alipay were obvious immediately. If different sellers offer similar products, customers will naturally choose to buy from the seller that provides a no-pay guarantee if the goods are not received. When Alipay first launched, the payment settlement was fulfilled by the finance department of Taobao, using Excel to record the transactions. By 2013, smartphone users in China accounted for 43% of all mobile phone users. Alipay continued to launch other new financial services. Users mainly invested their money in Yu’ebao to earn interest while still enjoying the flexibility of a current account. The promotional video on the homepage of Ant Financial’s website portrays the lives of ordinary people.
