Alibaba makes VR payments play

Chinese web behemoth Alibaba is working on bringing its payments clout to VR, developing technology that will let people buy goods in a virtual world by making physical gestures.

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Alibaba makes VR payments play

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The company's Ant Financial unit is developing a system that could let shoppers strolling through a VR mall make purchases with a nod of the head.

"We are working on the VR-driven payment tool to offer a real immersive and complete VR shopping experience," the firm tells China Daily.

Alibaba recently showed off its Buy+ virtual store, where shoppers can don a headset and use hand-controllers to hold and try on bags, shoes and clothes.

However, currently, Buy+ shoppers have to remove their headsets and return to the real world to pay for their goods.

It's not just virtual worlds that Alibaba is seeking to conquer, the company is also targeting Europe through a deal between Ant Financial and POS giant Ingenico.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Ingenico will let Ant's Alipay platform access its network of offline merchants in exchange for service charges.

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