作為中國最大的第三方支付平臺，支付寶正在獲得本土以外市場的成長動力。目前使用該平臺向美國商家購物的中國客戶人數創下新紀錄。

據支付寶統計，今年感恩節及其后的“黑色星期五”和“網購星期一”假日季，通過該平臺在美國零售店購物的中國用戶同比增長了足足7倍。同時，中國支付寶用戶給美國商家帶來的跨境銷售額同比增幅達15倍。

支付寶的母公司螞蟻金服集團脫胎于中國最大的電商阿里巴巴集團。支付寶現有4億注冊客戶，幾乎都是中國用戶，他們通過該平臺完成網購，或者在實體店購物。在美國與支付寶最為接近的對標企業，當屬數字支付服務商PayPal。不過支付寶的用戶數幾乎是后者的3倍。

2014年，支付寶向梅西百貨和第五大道等美國知名商家敞開了大門，這些商家開始接受支付寶提供的付款服務。從此，中國消費者可以更為便利地用自己的支付寶賬戶購買美國貨。

和中國最繁忙的網購節日——每年11月11日的“雙十一”相比，目前美國假日的銷售額還是小巫見大巫。今年“雙十一”期間，支付寶處理交易7.1億筆，完成銷售額143億美元，相當于每秒處理8.59萬筆交易。而據中國電子商務研究中心監測數據顯示，2015年“感恩節+黑色星期五”兩天時間內，美國消費者網上購物花費為44.5億美元，僅為支付寶今年“雙十一”業績的零頭。

支付寶最新一輪融資結束后估值達到了450億美元，預計將于明年上市。

螞蟻金服美國業務總裁Jingming Li說：“中國消費者是世界上最精明的買家之一，他們一直尋求購買國內難覓的美國等西方國家制造的產品。隨著物流水平的提高，本地化支付選擇的增加，中國消費者得以跨境購物。我們預計，中國海淘消費者激增的勢頭會持續整個假日購物季，在美國零售業電商提供更多折扣和促銷時更會如此。”Li是一位硅谷資深人士，曾在Sun公司和網景擔任過高級工程職位。

Alipay, the digital wallet of choice in China, is gaining traction beyond its geographic roots. A record number of Chinese are now using the service to shop with U.S. merchants.

The number of China-based Alipay users that shopped from U.S. retail sites over Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday increased 700% from last year, according Alipay. Meanwhile, total U.S. sales from China-based shoppers using Alipay increased 15 times versus last year.

Alipay, which is owned by Ant Financial, was originally created by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. It has 400 million registered customers, virtually all Chinese, who use the service to buy products online, through their phones, and in stores.

The closest U.S. equivalent is digital payment service PayPal. But Alipay is almost triple the size.

In the past year, Alipay has opened its door to U.S. merchants like Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue accepting payments through its service. Doing so makes it easier for Chinese consumers to buy items using their Alipay accounts.

The U.S. holiday sales volume is small compared to the amount on China’s busiest online shopping day, known as Singles Day, on Nov. 11. This year Alipay processed $14.3 billion in sales by Alibaba. Overall, it, Alipay powered 710 million transactions including as many as 85,900 per second.

Alipay, which was recently valued at $45 billion after its latest funding round, is expected to go public in 2016.

“Among the savviest shoppers in the world, Chinese consumers are continuously seeking high quality U.S. products and Western merchandise that they can’t find in China,” said Jingming Li, president of Alipay U.S. “With better logistics and localized payment options now available to make cross-border purchases, we expect this tremendous growth of Chinese consumers to continue throughout the holiday season, particularly as U.S. e-commerce retailers provide more discounts and promotions.”

Li is a Silicon Valley veteran, having held senior engineering positions at Sun Microsystem and Netscape.

在阿里巴巴集團創始人馬云看來，支付寶進入美國是打開國際市場的廣泛行動的一部分。馬云此前訪問美國時曾談到，希望幫助美國零售商和小企業解決向快速發展的中國中產階級銷售商品的問題。目前，中國中產階級人數已相當于美國人口數量，預計在7年內還會增長一倍。

針對支付寶美國業務布局，《財富》雜志采訪了螞蟻金服美國業務總裁Jingming Li。他不僅談論了支付寶在美國的計劃，與Uber的合作，還談及了支付寶獨立上市的可能性。以下為采訪摘要：

《財富》：支付寶是什么？

多數人將支付寶看做是數字生活的錢包。實際上，支付寶是幫助你做任何金融事情，包括在線購物、購買機票甚至支付電費的移動或網頁應用。即使在線下，中國有些實體店也接受支付寶。可以說，支付寶并不是純粹的金融工具，而是幫助方便生活的工具。

《財富》：支付寶與PayPal等其他數字錢包有何不同？

主要的不同點之一是重要性，如果你問10個人每天使用支付寶多少次，很少有人會說不用支付寶。有了支付寶你可以出門不帶現金甚至銀行卡，只要帶手機就行。

《財富》：支付寶如何處理線下支付？

我們與NFC支付合作，我們在一些店使用專有技術，利用聲音無線傳輸用戶ID和支付信息，我們也使用條形碼掃描驗證用戶。我想未來線上和線下支付方式會融合，在線支付和在實體店支付沒有區別。支付寶將繼續開發這種技術。

《財富》：目前使用支付寶的用戶有多少？

我們有3.5億注冊用戶，但我們是金融機構，注冊用戶不同于非金融機構，我們知道所有用戶的ID，銀行賬戶信息，相比其他支付公司，我們有更多重要的信息。

《財富》：你們如何在這么短的時間達到這種規模？

我們在技術上趕上了好時機，不需要太多基礎設施，支付寶為中國消費者解決了一個難題。例如，在支付寶出現前，如果中國消費者想支付水電費，需要在銀行排隊，有了支付寶，他們用手機就可以付賬。

《財富》：美國市場是否適合支付寶并取得快速增長？

我們看到中國消費者很想購買美國商品，我們看到支付寶有很大商機。現在美國處于商家一方，需求很大，或許某天會反過來，但現在不是。美國商家在生態系統中是非常重要的部分，去年我們讓梅西百貨和薩克斯第五大道上線，向中國消費者銷售。

《財富》：你們與Uber中國的合作如何？

今年我們在中國也與Uber合作，這也成為Uber在中國獲得成功的關鍵原因之一。

【針對此項合作，Uber公司的一位代表也向《財富》表示，“我們在中國取得顯著增長，支付寶是這種成功的關鍵原因之一。”】

《財富》：支付寶如何成為Uber增長的推動力？

一旦你的應用或網站有支付寶支持，就代表有了信用，人們就會更愿意使用你的服務。這是獲得客戶的極大推動力，我們也有營銷團隊與他們合作發布廣告。

《財富》：支付寶是否也支持Uber在中國的競爭對手？

這不是排外的協議。

《財富》：最近哪些美國零售商使用了支付寶？

Carter’s、Jewelry.com和Walgreen’s Skin Store。

《財富》：你們如何向美國品牌宣傳？

幾乎每個在線購物的中國消費者都是支付寶用戶，這代表著巨大的商機。一兩年后我們將有4億用戶。如果美國品牌有在線業務，就需要支付和物流支持，我們可以幫助他們。沒有理由拒絕3.5億用戶，這比美國人口都多。

《財富》：你們如何防止支付欺詐？

任何支付系統安全都是最重要的，我們依賴自己的專有系統，我們的欺詐率很低。我們沒有信用卡，只保存借記卡和銀行賬戶，基本上是基于現金的電子系統。

《財富》：你們為什么讓支付寶脫離阿里巴巴？

這是由于中國政府的相關規定。

《財富》：支付寶會成為上市公司么，什么時候上市？

當然，我想很可能上市，這不是秘密。至于什么時候我無可奉告。

《財富》：支付寶的收入來自哪里？

財務模式與其他支付公司很類似，我們對商家收費，某些消費者服務也不免費。上市后我們會發布這些信息，支付寶當前利潤很高。(財富中文網)

譯者：Pessy

校對：詹妮

Alipay’s push into the US is part of a broader effort by Alibaba’s founder, Jack Ma, to make inroads outside of China. During a trip to the US, Ma talked about how he wants to help US retailers and small businesses sell to the fast growing Chinese middle class, which is already equal in the size of the entire U.S. population and is expected to double in seven years.

Fortune sat down with Li to talk about Alipay’s US ambitions, the company’s partnership with taxi service Uber to accept payments through Alipay, and Alipay’s potential future as a public company.This interview was edited for length and clarity.

Fortune :What is Alipay?

Most people would refer to Alipay as a wallet for your digital life. It’s really a mobile or web app that helps you do everything you need to do financially including purchasing an item online, or buying a plane ticket online or even paying your electricity bill. And it even goes into offline, with physical stores in China able to accept Alipay. It’s not purely a financial tool, it’s designed to help your lifestyle.

How is it different from some of the other digital wallets out there such as PayPal?

One of the major differences is relevance. If you ask ten people how many times during the day you will use PayPal, I don’t know what the answer would be. But in China, it is very rare for anyone to say that they don’t use Alipay for anything in a given day. With Alipay, you could leave the house with just your cell phone and no cash or cards, and chances are you will survive.

How does Alipay approaches offline payments?

We work with NFC payments [NFC is a technology that lets people pay for an item using their phone by touching it to a reader at a the cash register]. We have some proprietary technologies in some stores that use sound to transfer user ID and payments information wirelessly. We also use barcode scanning to authenticate users.

I think in the future, there will be the convergence of payments both online and offline using mobile. There will be no difference in the way you pay online and in stores. Alipay will continue to work on this.

How many users does Alipay have?

We have 350 million registered users. But because we are a financial institution, our registered users are different from nonfinancial institutions. We know all of their IDs, their bank account information and have more substantive information than other payments companies.

You’ve achieved that scale in a relatively short amount of time, how?

We were at the right time in technology. There wasn’t a lot of infrastructure to begin with. Alipay really solved a problem for Chinese consumers. For example, before Alipay, if a Chinese consumer wanted to pay a utility bill, they would have to wait in line at a bank. With Alipay, they can pay the bills using their mobile phone.

How does the US market fit into Alipay and its growth?

We see the eagerness from Chinese consumers to buy American products. And we see a lot of value in allowing big and small U.S. businesses sell their products to Alipay members. Right now there is a lot of demand, and the US is on the merchant side of things. It can be visa versa someday, but not now. US merchants are a very important part of the ecosystem. Last year we brought on Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue to sell to Chinese consumers.

Tell me about the Uber China partnership

This year we also worked with Uber in China. And it is one of the key reasons why Uber is getting so successful in China.

[A representative for Uber issued this comment to Fortune on Uber’s partnership with Alipay: “We have seen phenomenal growth for Uber in China and Alipay is one of the key reasons for such a success.”]

How was Alipay a driver of growth for Uber?

Once you have Alipay in your app or website in China, it represents trust — meaning people will be more willing to use a service. It’s a great driver for customer acquisition. We also have our marketing team working with them as well to get the message out.

Does Alipay also power payments for any of Uber’s competitors in China?

It’s not an exclusive agreement.

Who are some of the recent US retailers that we would know that have now integrated Alipay as a payment mechanism?

Carter’s, Jewelry.com, and Walgreen’s Skin Store.

What’s your pitch to US brands?

Pretty much every Chinese consumer who wants to buy online is an Alipay member. And it represents a great opportunity. In a matter of a year or two, we will have 400 million users. If you have an online presence like Macy’s, it’s really about payments and logistics to be solved, which we help with. There’s no reason why you wouldn’t want to sell to 350 million members, which is bigger than the US population in general.

How do you prevent payments fraud?

A secure system is a fundamental necessity for any payment system. So we are relying on our own homegrown proprietary systems that have been tried and developed for the past 12 years. We have so much data from our consumers, including bank account information, cell phones, home address, so our fraud level is very low. Also, we don’t have credit cards, and users only link debit cards and banking accounts, basically making us an electronic cash based system. You can think of us a big, gigantic bank.

Why did you decide to make Alipay its own company separate from Alibaba?

It was due to Chinese government regulations.

Could ANT Financial, the operator of Alipay, be a public company and when will that happen?

Of course, I think there’s definitely potential to be a public company there, it’s no secret. I can’t comment on when that will happen.

Where does Alipay’s revenue come from?

Yeah, the financial model it is very similar to any other payment company. We charge fees to merchants. And certain consumer services are not free. As we become a public company we will release that information but Alipay is currently a very profitable business.