\tAlipay, the country's largest third-party payments company, will waive newly introduced commissions for transactions conducted via mobile platforms, in a bid to get more of its users on its mobile application.<\/p>\n
\tAlipay, a subsidiary of e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, will start levying a fee of 0.1 percent of the total value of transactions, according to a recent company announcement.<\/p>\n
\tThat translates into commission fees starting at 0.5 yuan (8 cents) per transaction and up to a maximum fee of 10 yuan. Previously, transactions with a value below 10,000 yuan were exempted from such fees.<\/p>\n
\tHowever, commissions will be waived for credit card payments, inter-bank transactions and payments of utility bills, if those transactions are conducted via mobile devices.<\/p>\n
\t"We will maintain free-of-charge services if users choose to go with Alipay's mobile app," Alipay said.<\/p>\n
\tThe move, along with a series of other recent endeavors, underscores the need for Alibaba to stay agile in the mobile e-commerce age, as some of its rivals on the mobile front are eroding its huge client base.<\/p>\n
\tThe company has recently launched Alipay Wallet, a mobile version of Alipay, as a standalone brand under the newly established Zhejiang Alibaba E-Commerce Co Ltd, which handles the financial businesses under the Alibaba empire.<\/p>\n
\tIt's also trying to get online merchants selling their products on Taobao.com marketplaces to switch from their desktop PCs to mobile phones, by investing 500 million yuan to develop a mobile services platform and distribute smartphones to lure electronic retailers, Alibaba said on its website.<\/p>\n
\tIn another push to expand its user base, in September, Alibaba launched Laiwang – a mobile chat app similar to Tencent Holding Ltd's WeChat – which gained traction quickly and gave it a boost on the mobile Internet sector.<\/p>\n
\tThe number of Laiwang's registered users has surpassed the 10-million mark, Jack Ma, the chairman of Alibaba, said in a briefing in November, adding that the company is targeting an increase to 100 million by the middle of next year.<\/p>\n
\tThe move is critical to "funnel young and tech-savvy users to Alibaba's mobile ecosystem", which will serve as the access point for e-commerce services and to a stable stream of revenue, said Alibaba's Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Lu at the same event.<\/p>\n