Alipay has set a target of supporting 10 million small to medium sized businesses in Europe over the next five years with new payment innovations and partner programmes.
Expanding its existing partnership with Worldline, Alipay’s Asian e-wallet partners will now allow European merchants to accept payments at Alipay-enabled points of sale. This will mean increased footfall and spending from Asian tourists in Europe.
Alongside this, and following news last week that visitors in China will get Alipay - and WeChat Pay - access, the Ant Financial payments platform has developed 'Mini Programs', designed to capture tourists en-route at airports around the world.
Alipay currently works with over 120 financial institutions in Europe and will continue to partner with third party providers, with a focus on travel agencies to seize growth opportunities, the firm says..
87% of survey respondents aged 18 to 69 in China reported that they use Alipay for their financial needs, according to Statista data. Further, Alipay serves over 1.2 billion users together with e-wallet partners across the Asia Pacific region.
Ahead of the the Alipay Partners Global Summit, Eric Jing, chairman and CEO of Ant Financial, says that the company will need to leverage the strength in its partnerships.
“Our growth has only been possible due to the network of partners we have established, and working together, we will make it easier for anyone to do business anywhere.”
“Our innovative solutions will continue to help merchants in Europe better serve the growing numbers of tourists as well as e-commerce shoppers coming to the region from all over the world,” Jing says.