Germany-based global provider of digital payments and commerce solutions Wirecard announced on Tuesday it has integrated Alipay as a payment method in the department stores in the Baltics operated by Stockmann. According to Wirecard, the Stockmann Group offers a wide range of fashion, beauty, home products, and food in its eight department stores in Finland and the Baltics as well as an online store in Finland. The stores also consist of Lindex, an international fashion chain with 474 fashion stores in 18 countries as well as an online store operating in 30 countries. In 2018, the Stockmann Group’s revenue was over €1 billion. Wirecard is working with Cimple Marketing on the integration.
“With 520 million active users and more than 100 million transactions per day, Alipay is the world’s largest mobile payment network. Wirecard customers who accept Alipay as a payment method make themselves more appealing to Chinese tourists which in turns leads to higher monetary spend amongst this target group. Experience shows that by offering Alipay, merchants can expect an increase of more than 350% in the amount spent by Chinese tourists within one year.”
Speaking about the integration, Catharina Tiede, Head of Partner Management, Consumer Goods at Wirecard, stated:
“Chinese tourists hold an enormous sales potential for European merchants. When travelling to Europe, Chinese guests spend on average 3,000 euro per person on shopping. We are pleased to help Stockmann to engage more effectively with this continuously growing target group, increasing customer satisfaction and in turn their sales figures.”
Andres Alango, Baltics IT Development Manager at Stockmann, added:
“Especially when traveling to long-haul destinations, such as Europe, Chinese visitors seek to experience the local lifestyle which includes shopping, especially luxury brands. By partnering with Wirecard and Cimple to offer these travelers the possibility of using their preferred mobile payment methods, we look forward to differentiating ourselves from other retailers by providing an even better customer experience, and welcoming even more Chinese tourists to our stores in the future.”