Dive Brief:
-
While U.S. retailers bicker about whether or not to accept Apple Pay, Alibaba founder Jack Ma said Tuesday that he loves the idea of a partnership with the payment system.
-
Speaking with CNBC Tuesday, Ma also said he will be taking the Alipay payments unit public.
-
Alibaba has seen massive growth. On Nov. 11 alone, the famed Chinese “Singles Day” shopping event, the Chinese retail-and-more conglomerate saw 45% more sales than the year before, for a total of more than $9 billion in sales in less than 24 hours.
Dive Insight:
Many retailers are rejecting Apple Pay in favor of their own payment system, CurrentC. But others are looking to accept Alipay, the payments unit spun off from Alibaba a few years ago, to make it easier for Chinese tourists and e-commerce customers to spend. Meanwhile, Jack Ma anticipates good things from a partnership with Apple Pay, and retailers and payments company PayPal should be paying attention.
Meanwhile, Ma shrewdly turned a fly-by-night idea of young people in the 1990s — that "Singles Day" had some meaning — and capitalized on that grandly, this year especially. No wonder American retailers would like to see some of that action come their way.
