Alipay finds UK mobile payments partner
Alipay, China's largest mobile wallet, has partnered with its first European mobile partner Zapper, enabling over 250,000 Chinese tourists in the UK to pay with the Alipay app in over 1,000 locations nationwide. The app leverages QR-code technology that accounts for over 85% of mobile payments in China. Alipay recently worked with Wirecard, a multi-channel payment solution, and The Body Shop, a popular brand with the Chinese, during China's national Golden Week in which many Chinese travel to Europe. The amount Chinese tourist spent in the UK increased to £586.22m in 2015, according to VisitBritain.
Alipay, the mobile payment platform run by Ant Financial Services Group, has partnered with Zapper, the consumer insights and marketing platform which is enabled by mobile payments.

Zapper becomes the first European mobile partner, allowing over 450 million active Alipay users to pay via the Alipay app across its full estate of affiliated Zapper businesses in the UK, Europe and North America. Alipay recently worked with Wirecard and The Body Shop, parallel to the start of China’s national Golden Week, a seven day national holiday during which time many Chinese tourists go on holiday to European destinations. In fact, this year, Chinese tourists increased their UK spend by more than 300% over Golden Week.

The partnership with Zapper will allow over 250,000 Chinese tourists visiting the UK to pay using the Alipay app in over 1,000 locations nationwide, which leverages QR-code technology. With over 85% of mobile payments in China currently made by scanning a QR code, the customer journey will be identical for Alipay users when purchasing goods and services using Zapper.

“Merchants, in addition to the Alipay payment solution, can better connect and understand hundreds of thousands Chinese tourists travelling in the UK,” said Rita Liu, head of Alipay EMEA.

“A huge development enabling Chinese tourists to seamlessly continue using the highly popular Alipay app when travelling to the UK,” added Gerry Hooper, CEO Zapper UK & Ireland.