Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay now available in Europe

 

Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay will initially launch in Italy with Dufrital, part of world-leading duty-free operator Dufry Group.

 

The service will be available in locations across Italy, and will soon be available in other European markets.

 

“Offering both payment methods is essential for merchants who want to fully engage and service Chinese consumers, and especially Chinese millennials, who use the wallets with equal frequency but for different reasons,” said Candice Koo, managing director of CANCAN.

 

“Italy is known to be an open and welcoming country, and by introducing a solution that combines Alipay and WeChat Pay with targeted digital marketing we feel we are enhancing the travel experience for Chinese tourists.”

 

 

 

Nick Aston, chief enterprise officer at WorldFirst, added:

 

“We’re passionate about making it easier and faster to move money around the world, and our partnership with CANCAN does just that.”

 

“Together, we’re making it easier for Chinese consumers to use their preferred payment method of choice around the globe and it’s great to bring our cross-border expertise and technology to this partnership to help merchants get paid faster too.”

 

“We are also working on enabling other new payment methods together, so this is just the beginning.”

 

WeChat pay has over 1bn users on the Chinese mainland, while Alipay has 550mn. Combined, the two payment solutions hold 98% of the Chinese payments market.