Alipay has recently announced that it will transform and upgrade to a more open platform in 2020 during the Alipay Partner Conference on March 10.

The upgrade will give more prominence on Alipay’s platform for daily life features such as Takeout, Restaurant, Hotel, Movies, and City Services.

Users of Alipay have come to rely more on the platform during the recent COVID-19 outbreak as more and more physical actions transformed into digital transactions. Users will now be able to order food, make a reservation at restaurant, book a hotel, buy movie tickets, or pay utility bills directly from app homepage.

Alipay also announced a three-year plan to work with 50,000 Independent Software Vendors (ISVs). ISVs are able to apply to become an Alipay partner through its official website. In addition to providing services on ALipay, partners will be able to get access to support from Alipay in the form of payment processing, corporate credit, app development support, and other services.

This is a significant move in Alipay becoming a more open platform and strengthening it’s competitive strengths against its main rival — Wechat.