Alipay to work with Saipan businesses

Alipay North America representative Michael Block speaks to members of the Saipan Chamber of Commerce during their general membership meeting earlier this month at the Hyatt Regency Saipan. (Marc A. Venus)

Alipay, which is operated by Ant Financial Services Group and is the world’s largest payment and lifestyle platform, has been looking into ways to work with numerous businesses on Saipan. Earlier this month, a representative from Alipay North America introduced the opportunities that Alipay can provide to the Saipan Chamber of Commerce.

Alipay North America representatives Michael Block and Sean Chen visited Saipan last Nov. 6 and presented about Alipay and what it has opened for Saipan businesses that have utilized the payment platform.

In a statement, a company spokesperson said Alipay has become the superhighway between North American businesses and Chinese consumers, providing Chinese travelers the same seamless payment experience that they enjoy at home.

Alipay launched in-store, offline payment services in the United States in 2017. In addition, merchant locations that have utilized Alipay have seen incremental increases to their monthly sales figures from organic growth, further validating that Alipay is the way to the Chinese consumer.

“Saipan is one of the most popular destinations in the Pacific for Chinese travelers. Around 20,000 Chinese tourists visit Saipan annually. Alipay is available at a large variety of retailers, including luxury, F&B, hotels, tourism, and Duty Free Shops on Saipan, and we are growing our acceptance in Saipan through local partners. We would like to continue to see additional merchants accepting Alipay through our local partners to better connect Chinese tourists with local Saipan merchants,” the statement said.

Alipay was launched in 2004, serving over 1.2 billion users with its local e-wallets partners as of June 2019. Over the years, Alipay has evolved from a digital wallet to a lifestyle enabler. Users can hail a taxi, book a hotel, buy movie tickets, pay utility bills, make appointments with doctors, or purchase wealth management products directly from within the app.

Alipay is expanding to in-store offline payments both inside and outside of China. Alipay’s in-store payment service covers over 50 markets across the world, and tax reimbursement via Alipay is supported in 35 markets.

Alipay works with over 250 overseas financial institutions and payment solution providers to enable cross-border payments for Chinese travelling overseas and overseas customers who purchase products from Chinese e-commerce sites. Alipay currently supports 27 currencies.