Chinese online payment giant Alipay has said it will evolve from a platform offering inclusive financial services to an open digital ecosystem that provides users a gateway into a comprehensive digital lifestyle.

A citizen places orders for vegetable in Hangzhou. (Photo via Alipay)

It follows a recent announcement from China’s Ministry of Commerce that the country will accelerate the digital transformation of the consumer service sector.

Alipay will support the digital transformation of 40 million service providers across the country, said Hu Xiaoming, CEO of Ant Financial, which runs Alipay.

During the COVID-19 outbreak, Alipay introduced a number of mini programs that helped users cope with the impact of the epidemic.

On Feb.9, Beijing-based startup Meicai, which connects vegetable farmers with restaurants, launched a mini program to make its delivery services available to Alipay users. In one week, Meicai attracted more than 800,000 new users across 80 cities in China, registering a repurchase rate of 40 percent.

“Alipay provides us with a large number of users and a whole host of services, including technical support,” said an official with Meicai.

One company that was helped by such mini programs was BESTORE, a snack brand headquartered in Wuhan, the epicenter of the outbreak, which suffered a massive loss in sales due to the closure of many offline stores. With the help of Alipay’s mini program, the company saw a surge in the volume of transactions. To BESTORE, digital transformation should be a long-term strategy rather than a makeshift tactic in response to the epidemic.

China’s service industry contributed to 59.4 percent of GDP growth in 2019, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Industry insiders said digital transformation of the service sector will become a new engine for economic growth.