Chinese Tourists Bring Alipay Overseas

When shopping in China there’s no need to bring your wallet, most people use their phones to pay, regardless of if you are buying a piece of gum or a new car. As a result of this habit, Chinese tourists using mobile payment services abroad is becoming an increasingly common phenomenon and is now available in over 50 countries.

Ant Financial, the company behind the payment service Alipay, has released new data about the overseas mobile spending behavior of Chinese consumers during the 2019 Lunar New Year period.

Luxury goods were mainly purchased in Europe, while the top five countriesthat saw the highest growth on average spendings were: Denmark (22.7 times), Spain (7.1 times), The Philippines (5 times), Belgium (4.7 times) and Switzerland (3.4 times). This could be explained by the fact that Chinese tourists shop more frequently in department stores and luxury shops in Europe than in other parts of the world.

In contrast, those who traveled to Asia for example, favored cosmetic shops and convenience stores

This explains why Asia tops the list when it comes to transaction volume, claiming the first nine spots on the list. Tenth place is taken by Canada which has climbed so high due to increased adoption by local merchants
and large retailers.

Findings from the report jointly released by Nielsen and Alipay last month also shows that mobile payment overtook cash as a payment method the first time as 32 percent of transactions using mobile payment

But mobile payment is not only beneficial to the customers, but also to merchants as 60 percent of merchants surveyed experienced growth in both foot traffic and sales after adopting the services of Alipay.

Featured photo credit to Quartz