French department store offers Alipay mobile payments

Printemps and Alipay
HOME FROM HOME: Tourists can buy with payments system used by 450m people in China

French department store Printemps has partnered with financial services company Wirecard to accept mobile payments from customers using Alipay, the first in France to support the Chinese-based payments solution.

Printemps aims to target Chinese tourists with the payment process actively used by some 450m people in China and which began its expansion into Europe during the summer.

The system will be rolled out at all Printemps stores by the end of 2017, with Wirecard taking charge of the payment process using its ConnectedPOS technology.

‘Important clientele’

“Chinese tourists are an important target clientele for Printemps, which is why we are developing various unique offers and services to ensure the best response,” says Annalisa Loustau from Printemps.

“For our customers, this roll out is synonymous with greater added value, as they can now pay with the same method they use at home,” adds Rita Liu from Alipay Europe.

“We are confident that the new Alipay offers rolled out with Printemps, in terms of payment methods and marketing, will be quickly adopted.”

The announcement is Alipay’s latest move to expand across Europe, an aim which was announced at Money20/20 Europe in April 2016.

In June, Chinese tourists were able to make payments at 210,000 store locations in Germany serviced by payment provider Concardis. The following month payment processor Worldline added its support for Alipay mobile payments in Germany.

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