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Chinese mobile payment giant Alipay reached a deal in early May to allow its users to make purchases at millions of US shops who use the payments processor First Data Corp.
This means that the third-party payment tool, which is backed by online giant Alibaba Group Holding, could soon gain access to more than four million retail partners in the US.
Chinese users are increasingly used to using mobile payments more than ever. Last year, China processed 2.3 trillion US dollars in mobile payments – 14 times more than in the US.
As five million Chinese tourists are expected to make their way to the US this year, some may be surprised at the inconvenience of having to use older more traditional payment methods, but families like Zheng Ming’s might enjoy being able to make mobile payments even in the US now.
Zheng Ming and her family are typical of a lot of Chinese tourists who visit the US. Talking to CGTN at a restaurant in San Francisco Zheng said “Like my mom, she doesn’t have the credit card, and she brings a lot of cash, but sometimes using cash is difficult in the US. As for me, in China I always use my phone to pay.”
Fortunately for Zheng and her family the group is dining at Crystal Jade, one of the first US restaurants to accept both Alipay and WeChat Pay mobile payments.
Crystal Jade Marketing Manager Catherine Fenelon lived in China for a number of years, so recognizes the value of accepting Chinese mobile payments.
“The day we put up the sign at our door we had a lot of people coming in straight away, they were really excited about it. Actually, the majority of people who use our payment they don’t speak English so it’s just so much easier for them to use a payment method that they are used to using,” Fenelon said. The hope for Alipay, and many Chinese tourists, is that more restaurants and shops will start accepting their phone payments.
(CGTN)
