Alipay has just kicked off the annual hongbao battle among Chinese companies in the tech industry as the country's Spring Festival draws near.
China Daily reported that Alipay, China's biggest third-party payment platform, recently kicked off the annual hongbao war by enhancing user loyalty to the company's app.
In its campaign this year, Alipay has announced that it will offer gifts reaching 500 million yuan to users who will opt to take part in its hongbao-themed campaign. Starting January 25, the company will launch an augmented reality game that will allow users to collect a number of virtual red envelopes.
The hongbaos will be collected by scanning the Chinese character "fu," China's official symbol of luck and fortune. The activity seeks to promote Alipay's services and will end February 4.
Among the prizes and subsidies that users can win with Alipay's hongbao campaign are cash prizes and trips to Europe for football enthusiasts - expenses paid by Alibaba's mobile payment platform.
While there are various cash prizes involved in the campaign, Alipay's most lucrative yet is attracting adult and elder users. The prize winner will have full-year reimbursements of every loan he or she incurred through Huabei, the platform's consumer credit service.
China UnionPay's QuickPass app is not far behind as it has also announced its red envelope campaign ending February 4. The promo states that consumers who will use the payment service should simply scan objects with the company logo on it and this action can yield up to 2,019 yuan in cash prizes.
Baidu Inc has been criticized earlier this week for its alleged unfair content releases. However, the company is also joining this year's hongbao war with an allocated 1 billion yuan in digital cash prizes.
Chinese online payers have been waiting for Tencent to wage war against the leading hongbao warriors. The company first initiated the digital hongbao battle in 2014. Unfortunately, the Shenzhen-based tech giant only announced offers for organizations this year.
Meanwhile, OneSiam, a world-class tourist attraction in Bangkok, Thailand, has also announced its partnership with Alipay for this year's Spring Festival. According to Travel Daily News, Thailand-bound tourists will receive THB200 hongbao gift cards in digital form. The envelopes will be sent via WeChat.
Thailand and China have been cooperating over the years to celebrate the annual Chinese New Year. OneSiam's collaboration with Alipay is expected to draw in more tourists from both countries and international regions alike.
