Chinese mobile payment platform Alipay is now available in a growing number of Italian outlets thanks to an agreement with UniCredit.
This allows Chinese tourists to easily make purchases with retailers like Eataly, Antonia and Pisa Orologerie, among others, according to a press release.
“Alipay has been following Chinese tourists to their favorite destinations across the world,” Rita Liu, head of Alipay Europe, said in the release. “The seamless in-app payment and marketing solutions provided by Alipay creates a cashless, efficient and productive way to do business, removing language, currency and cultural barriers between Italian merchants and Chinese tourists.”
Alipay boasts 450 million active users and is accepted in more than 100,000 retail stores across 70 countries and regions. In Italy, payment through the app could potentially be made available throughout a 120,000-large merchant network spread throughout the country. This will help retailers tap into Chinese tourist spending, which topped $215 billion globally in 2015.
“Thanks to the agreement signed with Alipay, we are the only Italian bank which enables merchants to accept payments from Chinese visitors via the Alipay app, enlarging their business potential,” UniCredit General Manager Gianni Franco Papa said in the release. “The partnership has been signed for Italy, but we are already considering the possibility to extend this service to other UniCredit countries.”
