If you live in the U.S., “social payments” is relegated to Venmo and its emoji-powered money transfers.
But compare that relatively thin offering to China’s WeChat, the do-everything messaging app that is the cornerstone of Chinese digital life. WeChat lets users execute peer-to-peer payments, top up their mobile phones, pay utility bills and book plane, train and movie tickets or book a karaoke session – to name just a few things. If China is any indication, social networks and messaging services could be killer apps for money transfer; WeChat is already leading that movement.
“WeChat is kind of a de facto operating system and has massive, massive usage,” said Sean Neville, cofounder and president of bitcoin wallet turned social payments app Circle. “There isn’t anything quite like that in the West.”
Just yet. But when WeChat, or a WeChat-like clone, finally hits the U.S., it’s going to look different. There’s more competition in the U.S., so there will probably be a few players as opposed to one “winner.” And although the U.S. payments system desperately needs an upgrade – sending payments is excruciatingly slow and expensive – it works well enough; how much U.S. customers benefit from paying in new ways with new technologies doesn’t yet outweigh trained behaviors that don’t want to change.
More in Marketing
Ad revenue grows at Target as Roundel stays insulated from broader retailer struggles
While Target continues to contend with sluggish sales and external economic pressures, Roundel, the retailer’s ad business, seems to be a bright spot in an otherwise gloomy financial picture.
Pitch deck: Here’s how Amazon has been selling its DSP so far this year
The 24-page pitch deck for Amazon’s demand-side platform is telling: it puts its off-Amazon’s ambitions in black and white.
Amid sports marketing’s gold rush, some brands are targeting niche fan communities
As the ceiling on sport sponsorship investment rises, room for non-standard approaches is also growing for a variety of brands.