Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com to accept Alipay as ‘walled gardens’ fall

The Alipay move comes on the heels of Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao announcing it would provide services on JD.com

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The Alipay booth at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, Feb. 26, 2024. Photo: Xinhua

Published: 7:00am, 31 Oct 2024

Chinese e-commerce platform JD.com has started accepting Alipay for payments after the announcement of its logistics deal with rival Alibaba Group Holding’s Cainiao, another sign that the “walled gardens” in China’s tech world are continuing to break down.

Alipay, the largest mobile wallet in China operated by Ant Group, was made available for consumers shopping on JD.com, the payment service provider said in a Weibo post on Tuesday evening. Ant is a fintech affiliate of Alibaba, which owns the South China Morning Post.

JD.com and Alibaba have been arch rivals in China’s e-commerce industry for years, but both face fresh competition from new players such as PDD Holdings and ByteDance-owned Douyin, the sister app of TikTok.

The Alipay move comes on the heels of Alibaba’s logistics arm Cainiao announcing it would provide services on JD.com. Starting Monday, third-party merchants on JD.com were offered the option of using courier services from Cainiao, and from next month they will be able to have large furniture and home appliances shipped, delivered and installed by Cainiao personnel.

The JD.com logo is seen on a helmet of a delivery man in Beijing. Photo: Reuters

Earlier this month, Alibaba began working with JD.com’s logistics services, from warehousing to shipping, on its Taobao and Tmall marketplaces.