Alipay Strengthens European Drive With Ingenico Alliance

French digital payment provider Ingenico Group has partnered with China’s Alipay to allow Chinese tourists to pay with their Alipay app when on holiday across Europe.

Europe played host to more than 10 million Chinese tourists in 2014, and the deal sees Alipay plough deeper into the European mobile payment market. Thousands of merchants across Europe will now be able to accept payments from Alipay’s e-wallet.

‘Lifestyle enabler’

“European merchants can now enhance the customer experience for Chinese tourists by offering the payment method they prefer,” said Ingenico in a statement today.

“It will allow Chinese tourists in Europe to use the Alipay App the same way as they are used to back home in China, where Alipay has evolved from a digital wallet to a lifestyle enabler that features the convenient booking of taxis and hotels, the purchase of movie tickets and many more functions directly from the App.”

Alipay, part of Alibaba’s financial unit Ant Financial Services Group, has more than 450 million users, and Ingenico claims to have processes more than 3.5 billion transactions in 2015 – making it one of the largest mobile payment platforms in Europe.

Chinese tourists will be able to use the Alipay app in the same way they do in China, but with Ingenico processing payments.

Douglas Feagin, Head of Alipay International and Senior Vice President of Ant Financial Services Group, states:

“We’re delighted to partner with Ingenico to offer a seamless payment experience to our customers across multiple touch points in Europe. We are convinced that the Alipay in-store payment via Ingenico will be much appreciated by the Chinese tourists in Europe”.

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