WeChat Pay and Alipay Won’t be able to lead the Local E-wallet Market

Business consultants and market researchers believe local players in the e-wallet such as GoPay, OVO, DANA, and LinkAja will continue to triumph amid the influx of foreign players such as WeChat Pay and Alipay.

Because foreign players have different market segments. In addition, they must follow the standards set by local players to win the market. Poltak Hotradero, the Indonesia Stock Exchange Business Development Advisor, said that market segmentation for WeChat Pay and Alipay is different.

The player from China entered to serve foreign tourists, especially from China. “They (China) were initially constrained by methods of payment abroad so WeChat and Alipay needed,” he said in Jakarta, Wednesday (12/2).

He explained, payment through e-wallet is indeed very important for Chinese tourists. Because there are special regulations regarding the amount of cash foreign tourists can bring to China or Chinese tourists abroad.

Chinese tourists can only carry cash up to 20 thousand RMB or equivalent to Rp 39 million. If they exceed the set limit, they must get permission from the bank. This also makes tourists happier to transact via mobile payment than cash.

WeChat Pay and Alipay Dominate the Market in Their Home Country

According to a survey, 92% of people in major cities in China use WeChat Pay and Alipay as their main payment platform.

Despite successfully dominating the market in his country, Poltak believes the two foreign players will find it difficult to win the e-wallet domestic market. Because WeChat Pay and Alipay should be able to catch up to the volume of data that has been controlled by local players ranging from GoPay to LinkAja.

“It’s not a big capital problem, but how they pursue the volume of data with an increasingly large individual. The most widely used is he will sustain. Data scale will be important,” he said.

In line with this statement, IPSOS Indonesia Experience Experience Research Director Olivia Samosir believes the e-wallet market in Indonesia will still be strongly held by local players. The reason is that there are standards set by local players that must be followed by foreign players if they want to enter the competition area.

“The minimum if you want to enter can be hit by the needs of consumers, must be comfortable and must be safe. If it is not felt, it will not increase the user,” he said. As a result, new players must pay a large fee if you want to seize the market.

New players must find the right promotion strategy and make different service offers. On the other hand, GoPay Head of Corporate Communications Winny Triswandhani said, with the entry of new players from China, GoPay will focus on innovation and segmented promotions.

New players are Expected to Support the Cashless Society

“The important thing is how to meet the needs of users. Good competition but good innovation that will win,” he said. He also saw the positive side with the entry of new players, namely supporting the expansion of the cashless society in Indonesia.

“We see the hope that all players will support cashless,” he said. Previously, DANA CEO Vincent Iswara claimed he did not feel competed with the arrival of new players from abroad.

In line with Poltak, he said the two foreign platforms were focused on foreign users alias tourists from abroad. Whereas the company focuses on domestic users. “So our strategy will focus on the (people) of the Indonesian people,” he said, at the end of January.

The strategy includes introducing cashless, and the advantages of its products. The payment system platform from China, Wechat Pay officially operates in Indonesia using the CIMB Niaga Bank network starting last January.