The Chinese service provider for mobile payment and the Berlin based fintech have announced that they will work together soon. What do the participants hope for?
Alipay: More than just mobile payment
Since its inception in 2004, the Chinese payment service provider Alipay has more than 700 million users. In China, you can not only pay for your purchases with the company’s app, but also call a taxi, arrange medical appointments, book hotel rooms and pay other bills. In Germany, it is already possible to pay with Alipay in stores like Breuninger, Kaufhof, Müller and Timberland. However, this requires a Chinese account, which is why the payment platform outside of China is aimed primarily at Chinese tourists.
Mobile payment also spread in Europe
In order to establish itself in even more German and European shops, Alipay is now cooperating with the Berlin based solarisBank. So far, the fintech mainly handles payments for startups. Now the Banking as a service platform is to act as an acquirer for Alipay in Europe. So she takes care of the transactions and gets from Alipay a fee that depends on sales. Thus, solarisBank offers the necessary technical and regulatory conditions. So that Chinese people can use their usual payment method in even more shops during their holiday in Europe.
How do Alipay and solarisBank benefit from the cooperation?
Both sides expect a lucrative business. “With Alipay, we are partnering with one of the most important international payment platforms,” said Roland Folz, CEO of solarisBank. In turn, Alipay believes that solarisBank will be instrumental in expanding its European dealer network.
Why does Alipay have so much interest in the European and German market?
The reason for this is the high willingness of Chinese tourists to pay. In 2017 alone, they spent around € 220 billion on travel alone. And Europe is becoming more and more attractive as a holiday destination. 12.7 million Chinese travel to the European continent in 2017. Nevertheless, Chinese credit cards are hardly common, especially in this country. That’s why it’s much more convenient for Chinese people to simply pay for their purchases with their smartphones. That’s where Alipay comes in and in the future also the solarisBank.
Also published on Medium.