Ant Financial’s premium payment service has arrived in yet another market: Spain.
Spanish retailers will now support Alipay capability in their stores thanks to an agreement between Ant and Spanish bank BBVA, the companies announced today.
The ability is primarily directed for Chinese tourists in the country that wish to continue to pay with the widely popular mobile wallet abroad. Alipay currently has about 400 million users worldwide, according to the company website. BBVA is the first bank in Spain to offer Alipay capability in the country.
“Before, [Chinese] visitors had to pay with an actual card, when they are used to the Alipay application,” Carlos Laita, innovation and market development director for BBVA, told Bank Innovation. “Now, a Chinese user can come to a [Spanish] shop, scan a QR code, and BBVA will handle the transaction with Alipay.”
The bank will integrate Alipay into its Smartpay service, which facilitates mobile payments for retailers. Merchants simply need to download the accompanying app and subscribe to the service in order to start accepting Alipay payments, according to BBVA — or, alternatively, just update the app if they are already subscribed to Smartpay.
“We do expect that this partnership [with Alipay] will grow Smartpay users,” Laita said. “The shop will use the Smartpay app, and Chinese users can keep doing their shopping on Alipay.”
Alipay makes use of QR codes, as noted above, which have recently come back into fintech vogue in the U.S.; they are an ubiquitous payment method when it comes to the Chinese market. There, QR codes are also frequently used for merchant promotions and offers, as well as payments.
The capability to push out discounts and promotions to Chinese visitors will also be coming to participating Spanish merchants and retailers, according to BBVA.
Spain receives a little under half a million Chinese tourists per year (about 400,000 Chinese visitors), and these visitors are the highest spenders among the tourists; the average Chinese tourist spends about €2,000, according to BBVA.
Adding the ability for those spenders to pay using their favorite payment method is sure to be a draw for participating Spanish retailers; for Alipay, the partnership allows the service to expand into a new market, whilst continuing to serve its core consumers — an expansion strategy Alipay has been successfully employing in various markets for some time.
Presently, the ability to pay with Alipay via BBVA Smartpay will only be available for those with Android devices, according to the release.