Alipay, the leading Chinese payment processor, agreed to a deal with Limonetik, a leading European payments processor, that will enable European merchants access to Chinese consumers via online payments, according to a press release sent to The Paypers on Feb. 16. The deal enables Limonetik’s “one stop” shopping payments solution, enabled through a PaaS platform that allows payments to be deployed onto e-commerce websites as quickly as possible.
Limonetik was founded around three years ago as a payments service that gives online merchants access to the most up to date payment methods, according to company sources. Acting as a middleware in the payments industry, Limonetik uses all payment methods available, along with regular updates. Its deal with Alipay, according to the press release, is part of the company’s overall goal of having the most recent payment methods available to European merchants.
It also provides a link to one of the largest e-commerce markets in the world. According to the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, China’s e-commerce transactions were valued at $2 trillion in 2014. Over 642 million monthly active users are online, and 565 million monthly active users are on mobile, representing 47 percent and 41 percent of the total population, respectively.
For Alipay, it can develop its own payment methods with a European market in mind, as well as being part of Alibaba Group’s global expansion of payment services. A few weeks ago, Ant Financial bought a share of One97, an Indian payments provider, which gave Alibaba greater access to the lucrative Indian e-commerce market. Yet while the company continues to grow its global footprint, it is facing criticisms from Chinese and American regulators for the proliferation of fake goods sold on Alibaba marketplaces as well as suspicions of withholding information from investors.
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