小红书做支付：节流又开源，但难成“支付宝”

Core Viewpoint - The article discusses how Xiaohongshu is attempting to establish its own payment system by acquiring a payment license through the full acquisition of Dongfang Electronic Payment, aiming to create a payment platform similar to Alipay, but faces significant challenges due to established competitors like WeChat Pay and Alipay [3][4][5]. Group 1: Acquisition and Payment License - Xiaohongshu's subsidiary, Ningzhi Information Technology, has fully acquired Dongfang Electronic Payment, which holds a Class I payment license for operating stored value accounts [3][4]. - The acquisition cost is estimated to be around 1.48 billion yuan, which is relatively low compared to the potential returns from owning a payment license [9][6]. - The primary motivation behind this acquisition is to obtain the payment license rather than to integrate Dongfang's existing business operations, which have limited synergy with Xiaohongshu's core activities [8][7]. Group 2: Market Challenges - Xiaohongshu faces a significant challenge in changing user payment habits, as WeChat Pay and Alipay dominate the market with over 90% market share [4][5][20]. - The article highlights that while Xiaohongshu's entry into payments is strategic, replicating the success of Alipay is highly unlikely due to the entrenched ecosystem and user inertia [5][28]. - The payment landscape is saturated, making it difficult for new entrants like Xiaohongshu to capture market share, as the penetration rate of online payment users is already very high [20][18]. Group 3: Financial Implications - Owning a payment license could lead to significant cost savings on transaction fees, which currently range from 0.1% to 0.3% for e-commerce platforms [11][10]. - If Xiaohongshu can shift 30% of its GMV (estimated at 400 billion yuan for 2024) to its own payment system, it could save approximately 300 million yuan annually in transaction fees [11][10]. - The potential for additional revenue streams exists, such as offering credit services to users, which could further enhance the financial viability of Xiaohongshu's payment strategy [12][11]. Group 4: Strategic Focus - Xiaohongshu's strategic focus should remain on its e-commerce and local lifestyle services, rather than solely on building a payment platform [28][15]. - The company is already seeing significant growth in its e-commerce GMV, projected to exceed 400 billion yuan in 2024, indicating a strong market presence [15][16]. - The integration of payment services is viewed as a complementary move to enhance user experience and streamline transactions within its existing ecosystem [10][29].