Alibaba’s Alipay to open app to more services to take on Meituan

Alipay said it plans to start allowing third-party vendors that offer services like retail, food and healthcare on its platform, moving into a realm that analysts say will pit it more firmly against on-demand service giant Meituan Dianping's 'super-app'. — Reuters

BEIJING: Ant Financial, an affiliate of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, will start allowing third-party vendors to offer services such as food delivery and hotel bookings on its Alipay mobile payment platform in an expansion beyond its financial services focus.

Alipay traditionally competes against Tencent Holding's WeChat pay in China for mobile payments and financial services, with users using both apps daily for tasks such as paying bills, buying groceries or booking taxis.