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Alibaba said to launch bargain marketplace Taobao Deals as mini-program on Tencent’s WeChat
- The Taobao Deals team has already invited merchants to take part in the bargain platform, according to local media
- The move will see Taobao Deals accept transactions that use online payment service WeChat Pay
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Chinese internet giants Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings are said to be on the verge of a major e-commerce collaboration, which will see bargain online shopping platform Taobao Deals offered as a mini-program on multipurpose super app WeChat.
Under this initiative, Taobao Deals will accept transactions that use online payment service WeChat Pay, which is the main rival of Alibaba affiliate Ant Group’s Alipay. Alibaba, the parent company of the South China Morning Post, has long barred the use of WeChat Pay on its Chinese retail platforms, including Tmall and Taobao Marketplace. Transactions on Tencent’s WeChat have also been exclusive to the platform’s own payment service.
The Taobao Deals team has already started inviting merchants to take part in the bargain platform, according to a report by local media China Science and Technology News on Wednesday, citing anonymous sources.
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Alibaba and Tencent did not immediately reply to requests for comment on Wednesday.
The collaboration would appear to be an initial step to help appease regulators’ concerns about monopolistic practices in the country’s internet industry, as both Alibaba and Tencent are embroiled in various antitrust issues. The final version of China’s antitrust guidelines came into effect in February, stipulating how anti-monopoly investigations and disputes in the world’s second-largest economy will move forward.
01:26
China kicks off antitrust probes into Alibaba over alleged monopolistic practices
China kicks off antitrust probes into Alibaba over alleged monopolistic practices
“It’s a positive signal for the antitrust situation in the country,” said Dong Yizhi, a lawyer at Shanghai-based Joint-Win Partners. “This is the first time that Alibaba has cooperated with Tencent on e-commerce and online payment. The barriers have to be broken by regulations, so that China’s internet industry can develop in a healthy manner.”
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