Alipay launches ‘Smile to Pay’ for commercial use in China — Alizila — “Smile to Pay, the first service of its type, debuted at a KFC’s new, healthy-food concept restaurant, called KPRO, in Hangzhou. With it, Alipay users can authenticate their payments through a combination of facial scanning and inputting their mobile phone numbers. That means they won’t need to break out their wallets — or even smartphones — anymore.”
Alibaba’s self-service Tao Cafe takes e-shopping offline — Xinhua — “Entry into Tao Cafe in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province, is through ticket gates similar to those at subway stations, however, customers scan their smart phones instead of tickets… The 200-square-meter store offering beverages, fast food and snacks can accommodate 50 customers at a time. To enter and make a purchase, shoppers require only a smart phone with Alibaba’s Taobao ecommerce app.”
Nearly 5,000 KFC China fast food restaurants will accept Alipay mobile payments next month, following in the footsteps of Walmart which is rolling out support for the service in all of its Chinese stores by the end of this year... More
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