PayPal Holdings Inc is trying its luck in China's online payment market that is dominated by Alibaba Group Holding Limited's Alipay and Tencent Holdings Limited's WeChat Pay. Around 70 million users of PayPal are accounted for purchases from Chinese retails websites.
PayPal's head of China merchants services Lu Liuliu told South China Morning Post (SCMP) of its advantage in penetrating China's surging e-payment market.
"PayPal is well known among foreign consumers [especially in the US], and is considered a safe payment method when buying products in China's online shops," Lu tells the publication. "I think PayPal has its an advantage even though China's online payment market is seeing explosive growth."
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In 2016, China became the home to most visited online shopping platforms worldwide followed by the US and the UK. In fact, about 70 million PayPal users have purchased from Chinese online shops. This figure is one-third of PayPal's 210 million users.
In July, PayPal had forged an agreement with Chinese web services firm Baidu, connecting Baidu Wallet's 700 million Chinese consumers with 17 million PayPal merchants, report SCMP.
According to Lu, PayPal is now working to connect with other online payment operators in the country.
Kitty Fok, IDC China managing director, had stressed what PayPal can do as it trails an unfamiliar path.
"The difficult issue for PayPal in developing in the Chinese market is not when it comes to China, but whether it can understand Chinese local culture very well."
