SIX Payment Services and Alipay join forces for European retail venture

Pan-European payments provider SIX Payment Services and Alipay, China’s popular third-party payment and lifestyle platform operated by Ant Financial Services Group, announced a “close cooperation” for the acceptance of point of sale (POS) and electronic commerce (e-commerce) payments across Europe. Under the terms of the agreement, Alipay’s payment service will be integrated into SIX’s payment application, thus enabling merchant clients of SIX to accept Alipay payments from Alipay users.

Zurich-based SIX commented that merchants have benefited from the influx of Chinese tourists in Europe for several years. In 2015 alone, Chinese tourists spent US$292bn. This trend is far from reaching its peak and millions of Chinese travelers are expected to visit Europe in the coming years.

“The ability to address the specific payment requirements of Chinese customers can be a differentiating factor for merchants in retail and hospitality,” the company added. “Alipay is the leading payment service provider in China, with more than 450m users, a market share of 80% in mobile payments. Alipay customers are typically technology-savvy and enjoy using of their mobile phone to effect fast and simple payments.”

SIX and Alipay are also looking at offering value added services to merchants, with a specific focus on marketing support and customer activation in the target segment. Alipay has already embedded its ‘Global Lifestyle Platform’ in the Alipay app to connect merchants and customers.

Alipay will also work with BNP Paribas, to enable the 16m Chinese tourists who travel outside Asia every year, to pay for their purchases with their Alipay mobile app at all partnering stores.  Initially available in France, this service will be progressively extended to the rest of Europe.

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