Now the two partners are expanding their collaboration. In addition to Germany and Austria, Concardis will now offer Alipay in Switzerland and Benelux.

Following a brief testing phase, all merchants who opted for Alipay and have multiple locations have carried out the territory-wide roll-out. To date, the range of amounts for transactions performed with Alipay is from €10 to €14,000. This shows that the app is used for a wide variety of purchases.

‘From the beginning, we were convinced of the success of Alipay in Germany and Austria. The current figures have exceeded our expectations,’ says Concardis CEO Marcus W. Mosen. ‘In Europe, acceptance of Alipay is becoming more and more important for bricks-and-mortar retailers due to the rising number of tourists from China. The roll-out in Switzerland and Benelux is therefore the natural next step for us.’

Large shopping centres, outlets and airports are particularly common locations for payments made using Alipay. Alipay is an important part of the payment options at these locations, because they are frequented by tourists from Asia who specifically choose shops that accept Alipay as a payment method. The user has the option of letting the app direct it right to the shops that accept the Chinese payment solution. Alipay also functions as a marketing tool. Merchants can publish discount promotions and coupons directly via the Alipay app. Customers then receive a push notification on their smartphone when they are near the shop.

‘Due to the positive response and the growing demand, we will continue to expand our offering of Alipay-enabled POS terminals,’ said Mosen. ‘Among other things, Alipay payments will soon be possible via our mobile POS solution Optipay.’ With Concardis, accepting Alipay can be realised quickly and simply. After concluding the contract, it only takes two to three working days until the Alipay software is provided. Payment by Alipay takes place at the point of sale using a QR code, which eliminates the need for currency conversion.

With more than 800 million users, Alipay is the world’s largest lifestyle and payment platform. Its share of the Chinese online payment market is greater than 50 per cent; in the mobile payment sector this figure grows to 80 per cent.