Smartpay teams up with Alipay to tap into $11bn Chinese tourism market

Alipay mobile wallet users will be able to pay via Alipay at vendors with Smartpay terminals across Australia and New Zealand.

Smartpay has signed a deal with the Chinese ecommerce giant’s payment arm, which will allows 25,000 Smartpay merchants to carry out transactions with any of the 520mn Alipay users from China.

Indeed, Chinese tourism adds around $11bn a year to Australia and New Zealand’s economies.

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Smartpay Managing Director Bradley Gerdis said: “Our implementation of Alipay showcases our market leading SmartConnect cloud based open API payments platform as we leverage our investment in this cutting-edge technology to bring value added solutions to our merchants.”

Smartpay will take a small commission for each transaction, which could be worth millions given 3.8mn visitors from China arrive in the two countries every year. There is also a large number of Chinese students studying in ANZ who could be set to benefit from this agreement.

George Lawson, Alipay Country Manager (ANZ), added: “Smartpay are early adopters of Alipay in Australia and New Zealand and are well-positioned to benefit from the high growth in Chinese visitor numbers.

“Alipay is not only a payment capability used by tourists but also thousands of Chinese students and migrants. These are very lucrative markets that are rapidly expanding.”

The services is expected to launch in early April in New Zealand, quickly followed by rollout in Australia.