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Alipay joins live-streaming ecommerce trend with mini program
Alipay becomes the latest app in China to add live streaming, allowing users to buy products from Taobao live streams without leaving the app
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This article originally appeared on ABACUS
Have you ever wished it was easier to jump into a live-streaming video after paying for your Starbucks latte? Alipay is now making your wish come true. Like many apps in the country, the mobile payment platform has decided to cash in on China’s popular and lucrative live-streaming ecommerce trend.
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(Abacus is a unit of the South China Morning Post, which is owned by Alibaba, an affiliate of Alipay owner Ant Financial.)
On Thursday, Alipay added a mini program inside the app that lets users tune in to live-streamed channels on Taobao, Alibaba’s main ecommerce site. Here you can see sellers offering everything from home-grown vegetables to gaudy jewelry, with an option to directly purchase the goods from within Alipay.
The new feature comes after Taobao Live saw rapid growth during the coronavirus pandemic. Similar to Tencent’s WeChat, the social app with a competing mobile payments service, Alipay’s platform allows you to search for and open mini programs within the main app. But WeChat is also looking to take advantage of the rising popularity of live streaming, having introduced its own live streaming mini program last year.
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