Concardis brings Alipay to Austria and Switzerland
German payment service provider Concardis is bringing Chinese mobile payment solution Alipay to Austria and Switzerland.
Clothing brand Gössl will be the first merchant in Austria to let Chinese citizens pay via smartphone and the Alipay app. The roll-out in the Swiss market is planned for October this year. In Germany, Concardis says it has already implemented Alipay at several hundred acceptance outlets.
Rita Liu, head of EMEA at Alipay, says its entry into the Austrian and Swiss markets is “important for us to help us gain a stable footing in Europe as a whole” – and hails Concardis’ “strong position in German-speaking Europe and their international experience”.
Concardis adds that Alipay currently has more than 450 million active users and holds more than 50% of the Chinese online payment market – with a total of 80% with regard to mobile payments.
According to the German Federal Statistical Office, 2.5 million Chinese tourists stayed in hotels in Germany in 2015. Austria is also generating increasing numbers with regard to tourism: 715,000 Chinese tourists visited Austria in 2015. In the same year, more than 1.5 million Chinese guests stayed overnight in Switzerland.
Think ink
Alipay has been very active in Europe with several deals inked.
It has made an agreement with UniCredit to bring Alipay to Italy, as well as with BNP Paribas, Barclays and SIX Payment Services to drive its European expansion plans.
Also, Chinese tourism inspired Alipay’s partnerships with Zapper and Ingenico.
