為了吸引中國消費者，優步（Uber）現在瞄準了消費者的錢包——實際上是他們的數字錢包。

這家叫車服務公司在周二表示，公司將開始支持中國消費者在超過68個國家和400個城市旅行時，使用中國流行的數字支付應用支付寶（Alipay）付費。

作為合作的一部分，現在，用戶可通過支付寶的手機應用使用優步的服務，這將幫助優步直接為支付寶的4.5億中國用戶提供服務。中國用戶在國外也可以通過支付寶應用使用優步叫車服務。

優步此次擴大與支付寶的合作，目的是為了在潛力巨大的中國叫車市場獲得助力。目前，優步遠遠落后于中國本地市場領導者滴滴出行（Didi Chuxing），位居第二位。優步中國戰略負責人柳甄表示，優步目前在中國叫車市場占有約三分之一的份額。

最近，優步與滴滴出行的競爭已經擴大到了中國海外市場。去年，滴滴出行宣布將與另外三家叫車服務公司合作，與優步展開競爭。上個月，滴滴出行的客戶在美國出行時，終于可以使用手機應用來福車（Lyft）的叫車服務，此外，滴滴出行正在計劃與印度的Ola和東南亞的Grab等本地叫車服務公司建立類似的合作關系。

優步擴大與支付寶的合作，可以幫助吸引出行頻繁的中國消費者，因為消費者在出行時不需要通過其他支付方法使用優步。此外，中國游客可以通過支付寶應用使用優步叫車服務，不必再下載優步的應用。

柳甄表示，諸如阿里巴巴公司旗下的支付寶服務對于希望在中國開展業務的供應商至關重要，因為多數中國消費者沒有信用卡。支付寶美國負責人在去年夏天曾告訴《財富》雜志（Fortune），由于支付寶非常受歡迎，因此，當消費者發現他們可以通過支付寶支付商戶的服務時，很快便可以建立起對商戶的信任。

兩家公司并未披露具體的財務條款，不過優步高級業務副總裁埃米爾?邁克爾指出，支付寶會對每一筆通過該應用完成的交易抽取傭金，這或許可以為我們提供一些線索。

但這并不意味著優步在競爭中取得勝利——因為支付寶應用早已支持滴滴出行的服務，另外據滴滴出行的發言人表示，通過其他流行應用也可以使用滴滴出行服務，如微信（WeChat）、阿里旅行（Alitrip）和騰訊地圖（Tencent Map）等。但優步與微信的母公司、滴滴出行的投資者騰訊（Tencent）之間的關系卻并不融洽。

去年，微信封殺了優步，后來在《華爾街日報》（Wall Street Journal）舉辦的一次會議上，當被問及具體情況時，優步聯合創始人兼CEO特拉維斯?卡蘭尼克（Travis Kalanick）說了下面一番話：“在中國的競爭是不同的。”此事對于優步來說無疑是一次沉重打擊。去年，優步一直在大力投資中國業務。

此外，優步與支付寶表示，雙方的合作也會擴大到印度支付服務Paytm。Paytm一直與支付寶有密切合作。兩家公司稱，現在，Paytm的用戶在印度境內出行和到中國旅行時，均可通過Paytm應用使用優步的叫車服務。

優步早在2014年便允許中國消費者使用支付寶支付車費。今年2月份，優步擴大了與支付寶的合作，允許中國消費者在中國大陸之外的地區，包括中國香港、臺灣和澳門等地，使用支付寶付費，無需信用卡。（財富中文網）

譯者：劉進龍/汪皓

In a chase for Chinese customers, Uber is now going after their wallets—their digital wallets, that is.

The ride-hailing company said on Tuesday that it would begin to let Chinese customers pay for rides using popular Chinese digital payments app Alipay when they travel to more than 68 countries and 400 cities.

As part of the partnership, Uber’s service will now also be available through Alipay’s mobile app, helping Uber skip the line and land right into the palm of Alipay’s 450 million Chinese users. Alipay’s users will be able to hail an Uber ride through the app outside of China as well.

Uber’s move is designed to give it a leg up in the potentially huge Chinese ride-hailing market, where the company is a distant second place behind local leader Didi Chuxing. Uber controls about one third of all Chinese ride hailing bookings, according to Uber China strategy head Zhen Liu.

The rivalry between the two companies has also recently spilled beyond the country’s borders whenDidi Chuxing announced last year that it would team with three other ride-hailing companies to take on Uber. Last month, Didi Chuxing customers were finally able to start using their mobile app to hail a ride through Lyft when traveling to the U.S., and similar partnerships are planned with local ride-hailing companies in India, through Ola, and Southeast Asia, through Grab.

Uber’s expanded partnership with Alipay could help Uber compete for Chinese frequent travelers because they would no longer need to link additional payment methods in Uber when traveling. Chinese visitors would also be able to book Uber rides through Alipay’s app without needing to download the ride-hailing company’s app.

Services like Alipay, an affiliate of Alibaba’s parent company, are hugely important in China and for vendors that wish to operate there because most Chinese consumers don’t have a credit card, Liu said. Because it’s so popular, Alipay also helps merchants immediately gain trust from Chinese consumers when they see they can pay through the service, Alipay’s U.S. chief told Fortune last summer.

The companies declined to share details about their financial arrangement, though Uber’s senior vice president of business, Emil Michael, pointed out that Alipay traditionally takes commissions from transactions it drives to other services as a hint.

Still, the battle isn’t won for Uber yet—Alipay’s app already sports Didi Chuxing’s service, which is also available through other massively popular apps like WeChat, Alitrip, and Tencent Map, according to a Didi Chuxing spokesman. Uber, on the other hand, has had a rough relationship with WeChat’s parent company and Didi Chuxing investor Tencent.

Last year, WeChat blocked Uber’s access to the app, leading Uber co-founder and CEO Travis Kalanick to later remark that “competition in China works different” after being asked about the situation during a Wall Street Journal conference. The move was an obvious blow to Uber, which has been heavily investing in its Chinese operation over the past year.

Uber and Alipay’s partnership also extends to Paytm, an Indian payments service that works closely with Alipay, the companies said. Now, Paytm’s users will be able to use the app to hail an Uber ride while getting around in India, as well as when they travel to China, the companies said.

Uber first let Chinese customers use Alipay in 2014 to pay for rides. In February, it expanded the deal to let Chinese use it instead of a credit card outside mainland China, starting in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Macau.