China UnionPay rolls out cash incentives on integrated payment app, ramping up battle with Alibaba and Tencent

China UnionPay is ramping up the marketing on its recently released integrated mobile app, in an attempt to make inroads into a sector dominated by third-party payment services backed by Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings.

Under a promotional campaign that winds down on March 2, participants who download and use the QuickPass app to transfer funds or invite friends to join are eligible for cash prizes of 2,018 yuan (US$322).

The promotion known as the “red packet feast” will run throughout the Lunar New Year holiday.

The app, launched in December, represents UnionPay’s strongest ever effort to compete against Alibaba and Tencent in the fast-growing online payment sector. Transactions through UnionPay’s quick response code were up sharply in December, the company said.

“UnionPay is playing catch-up with the internet duo of Alibaba and Tencent in the now ubiquitous mobile payment sector,” said He Fei, a senior researcher at Bank of Communications in Shanghai. “An aggressive campaign could help UnionPay grab more users and build up its brand awareness in the segment.”

According to UnionPay, bank card transactions through its network including traditional point of sale and mobile payment grew to 93.9 trillion yuan in 2017, up 28.8 per cent from 2016.