Epic change! Taobao gradually opens WeChat payment

Recently, a piece of news #Taobao gradually opens WeChat payment# has become a hot search on Weibo, and many netizens are puzzled and surprised - Taobao and WeChat, are they going to be interoperable just like that? Let's take a look at the author's sharing and interpretation.

When Xiao Lei went home for the Chinese New Year this year, he conducted a thorough inspection and cleanup of his parents' phones as usual.

My mom suddenly asked me a question: Why can’t I use WeChat Pay to pay for Taobao? It’s very troublesome to pay for it on my behalf all the time.

Yes, for elders of their age, WeChat Pay is obviously a more convenient way.

I want to open an Alipay account for her, but I'm worried that she won't be able to remember the password and something might go wrong when we're far away.

Of course, Xiao Lei couldn’t possibly talk to his elders about the love-hate stories among the big Internet companies over the years.

So, at that time I was always fantasizing that it would be great if Taobao could support WeChat payment.

The elders are happy and comfortable with their purchases, so we, the younger generations, don’t have to worry about anything, so it’s like killing two birds with one stone.

You know what, Xiao Lei has been waiting for this long. Recently, Taobao and WeChat Pay have brought some great news!

Taobao finally supports WeChat Pay! What is the situation? Let's listen to Xiao Lei from the front line to find out~

Image source: Xiaolei's mobile phone screenshot

1. Taobao finally supports WeChat payment

Taobao belongs to Alibaba, while WeChat is owned by Tencent. The two giants have been competing with each other for many years.

Now that this wave of "handshake and peace" has achieved interoperability, the majority of users are so happy, and the topic has suddenly become a hot search.

For example, the topic #Taobao gradually opens up WeChat payment# once ranked in the top five of the hot search list.

Image source: Weibo

This was first discovered by netizens, who found a new payment channel called "WeChat Pay" on the Taobao payment page.

Seeing this, Xiao Lei quickly opened Taobao, selected a product, placed an order and paid, but unfortunately there was no WeChat payment.

Image source: Internet

Xiao Lei asked Taobao customer service and found out that Taobao does currently support WeChat payment, but it is still in the stage of gradual opening.

Currently, Taobao WeChat payment is only available to some users and is only available when purchasing certain products.

Image source: Taobao

So the question is, how do we know if we are an internal test user of Taobao WeChat Pay?

The method is very simple. You can see the corresponding payment method on the Taobao APP product order and payment page.

If you have WeChat payment, you are an internal test user. If not, then you are not a test user. Go and try it out~

Image source: Taobao

Is there any difference between the payment process of Taobao WeChat and Alipay? Judging from the video circulating online, the answer is no.

When you select "WeChat Pay" to submit the order, you will be redirected to the WeChat payment page and the purchase can be completed after payment.

This is much more convenient. After all, many elders keep their money in WeChat, and it is much easier to pay directly with WeChat.

Don’t worry if you don’t have it yet. Taobao customer service said that they will gradually cover all of them and it won’t take too long.

Image source: Weibo @梨视频

2. WeChat Pay has been launched before

Some of you may not understand, when did Taobao and WeChat become so closely related that they can communicate with each other just like that?

In fact, as early as March 2022, Taobao supported WeChat Pay, but the implementation form was different from this year.

In general, there were two ways to pay with WeChat at that time.

The first method is “WeChat scan code payment”.

Well, if the "WeChat Scan QR Code to Pay" option appears on the product order page, click it and save the payment QR code.

Then we use WeChat to scan the QR code to enter the WeChat checkout, and complete the payment after verifying the password.

Although this method can use WeChat payment in disguise, overall the operation steps are too cumbersome.

You have to take a screenshot first and then scan the QR code. After payment, you have to go back to the album to delete the payment code, which is very difficult for the elderly.

Image source: Taobao

The second method is “WeChat payment”.

On the order submission page, select "Go to WeChat to find a friend to pay for me" and jump to WeChat to send the product link to your friend.

At this time, we just need to enter the payment password to complete the payment. Of course, you can also choose to pay by yourself.

This method is mainly due to the further breakthrough in the interconnection between Taobao and WeChat in January of that year.

The WeChat chat box supports opening Taobao product links, and payment can be completed without jumping to the Taobao APP.

Image source: Taobao

The above two WeChat payment methods are actually also in internal testing. It has been almost 2 years and Xiaolei has not been included in the internal testing.

Taobao customer service said that if you have it on the order submission and payment page, it will work. If not, please refer to the page display.

However, these two WeChat payment methods can also be seen as a test of the ice-breaking relationship between Taobao and WeChat Pay.

Perhaps it is because of these trial preparations that Taobao can now directly jump to WeChat payment!

Image source: Taobao

3. Further elimination of Internet barriers

In the past, if someone asked Xiao Lei: Can Taobao use WeChat payment? I would think it is a fantasy.

After all, in this high-speed Internet era, every entrance is a huge source of traffic, and no one is willing to let it go.

Relying on their early accumulation, major Internet companies now have overwhelming and absolute advantages in their respective fields.

For example, Alibaba focuses on e-commerce, Tencent’s social networking is impeccable, and ByteDance’s short videos are unique...

In order to expand their own business, they have learned a lot from each other.

Those who are engaged in e-commerce want to do social networking, those who are engaged in social networking want to make short videos, and those who are engaged in short videos want both e-commerce and social networking.

Well, after watching the developments over the years, I feel that there is still much room for improvement in the derivative businesses of large companies.

Therefore, the growth of other businesses is limited, so we can only protect our advantageous businesses, and the Internet barriers are built in this way.

Fortunately, under the promotion of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other relevant departments, the "breaking the wall" action among major Internet companies is gradually progressing.

Well, it’s September 2021, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology held an "Administrative Guidance Meeting on Blocking URL Links."

The purpose of this meeting is very simple, which is to require these Internet companies to solve the problem of "blocking URL links".

And this will indeed work. Since then, the barriers between large companies have begun to be broken down step by step.

For example, WeChat has opened up links to other major companies, and finally, they are no longer strange passwords, but URLs that can be opened with just one click.

Taobao and Douyin links can be opened, and other major manufacturers have also synchronized the operations of WeChat, aiming to make everyone happy.

Image source: Global Times

So, now it’s time to come to this day, and Xiaolei is very happy to see the connection between Taobao and WeChat Pay.

As two giants in the Internet industry, Alibaba and Tencent’s every move can affect the development of the industry.

Xiao Lei also sincerely hopes that WeChat Pay can be fully launched on Taobao as soon as possible to facilitate the elderly in the family.

At the same time, we also expect Internet products of all sizes to achieve a certain degree of interoperability, if not 100%.

After all, the essence of the Internet is "interconnection".

Editor: Jonty

Original title: Epic update! WeChat’s biggest limitation is finally gone

Source: Xiaolei Bibi (ID: xiaoleibbb), bibi about things in the technology circle every day.